Nine in the Afternoon
by Glory For Sleep
Summary: He was stressed out completely. He now had to keep Mew company for the next set of hours. And it was only nine in the morning. Somehow, Arceus was certain that this was going to be a very long day… Mew/Arceus
1. Nine in the Morning

Hey peoples!

Yeah, I know...I know. I was supposed to update Skyway Avenue, but I always wanted to write this and get it started. I mean, seeing as how it was originally supposed to be a oneshot, it's not going to be very long (perhaps 2-3-4 chapters?).

Anyway, I really don't have much to say, so enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Pokemon, or "Nine in the Afternoon" by Panic at the Disco.

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**Chapter 1: Nine in the Morning****

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**

-ooo-

"Court is adjourned."

Arceus sighed with relief as the Legendaries dispersed their seats among the jury stands, leaving the meeting room of the Hall of Legends – a temple in the heavens above Earth where Legendaries discussed various things – in an orderly fashion. Their conference had ended only seconds ago, the matters they debated on involving many suggestions towards better living styles for the aforementioned planet's inhabitants, as well as possible new ideas for making the rules of natural order remain in balance.

The qilinlike being slowly stepped down from his pedestal that overlooked the room, giving him the appearance of a judge in the courtlike dormitory. The Legendaries had left, leaving him the only occupant among the golden halls of the Hall of Legends, and also giving him time to think over the new problems that had surfaced into his mind upon the prior conference: More natural disasters had been listed, another new disease had been found, and, worse, his favorite soap opera – _Desperate Gymwives_ – had postponed its new season until next year.

It didn't end there, either. Among the Armageddon that was harassing Earth, post-apocalyptic mayhem had already swarmed over the Legendaries. Counterparts were fighting against counterparts, always bickering with one another; it was hard to believe that some people actually thought counterparts were the best mates for each other. Why, not too long ago, Dialga had fought against Palkia in Alamos Town, practically sending the whole community into a hellish world that was located between dimensions. Of course, Darkrai was there to help, but after the battle was over he returned to his island to come face-to-face with his counterpart, Cresselia, who nearly slam-dunked him just for almost getting himself killed.

Stress was everywhere, to make a long story short.

Arceus had begun to wonder if he would ever crack a smile. His job as God required him to be serious, and the work that came with it made it oxymoronic for him to even smirk. His gold eyes were always filled with determination and sternness, as well as melancholy whenever a situation he was facing held sad attributes. Despite that he constructed everything that made life the way it was, he didn't know the simple definition of 'content' regardless of how many times he had seen the other Legendaries display such happiness. There was no room in his schedule for playtime, definitely with having to balance it with guarding the world and listening to the Legendaries whenever they needed to talk to him for guidance. He had always given them great advice – little things that convinced them to smile, though his own words never brought a grin to his face.

The God Pokemon let out a large sigh through his nostrils, although it failed to add the semblance of exhaustion to his elegant countenance. His gold hooves were shiny like the tiles below their stiltlike structure, the matching arch that occupied his middle abdomen glittering as well in the overhead lights. Despite that his mere appearance caused even the Legendaries to sometimes gape at him in awe – as if he had a halo of pure holiness orbiting above his head – the turmoil inside his jumpy body was all he needed in order to feel like he was going to explode from the worry of everything around him. He wanted to scream, but held it in to avoid hearing his proud, strong voice being echoed across the hallways as a femininelike wail.

He had had enough humiliation just by _knowing_ that he was stressed out.

To help try to get his mind off the stress, he allowed his thoughts to return to the _good_ things that were mentioned in the morning meeting. Raikou had helped settle a peace treaty between two Pokemon tribes in the Ilex Forest yesterday. _Good._ Heatran and Shaymin were contemplating on attempting to grow more yards of flowers around Stark Mountain to help promote a greener Earth. _Aw, that's nice of them._ Recent rainy days assured that plentiful crops were to be given to farmers all over the regions. _Great!_

Arceus took a deep break. At least there was some good news to think about – things to be looking forward to. Slowly his mind drifted to the actual meeting itself, somehow finding its way to ponder on the attendance of the conference. Arceus had noticed during the whole thing that _almost_ every Legendary had been accounted for. When gazing upon the jury stands with his gold eyes, he realized the lack of a certain infamous, small, catlike Pokemon who's believed to be counted as the Goddess of the world when his presence remained unmentioned. The said petite Legendary known as Mew was also known to be childish, and envious to have fun all the time, which explained Arceus' lack of trusting towards her on situations requiring her attention.

Although he wondered why she hadn't showed up when she was usually the first there in five hours ahead of time, Arceus didn't want to worry about another thing. His stomach was burning already with the worries of the topics mentioned before (obviously thinking about the good things stated in the meeting was nowhere near countering the bad things); he wouldn't be surprised that, just by thinking of the Legendaries' inner quarrels brought him a severe headache, his stomach was ulcerating from the anxiousness of that, AND the problems of his life and on Earth.

The qilinlike Pokemon groaned in annoyance. He was God – Gods don't stress!

…they don't stress, right?

Arceus' curiosity on why Mew was absent kept plaguing his mind. He tried not to think about it – to relax, though an attempt was all he could do.

It was hard not to think about something when it was a situation that required thinking, though thinking about, Arceus thought, was something that he thought he could avoid thinking about when, in reality, not thinking about it, or as others thought, was thoughtlessly inevitable.

…alright, now his head _really_ hurt…

As if on cue, the doors into the room burst open, snapping Arceus away from his confusing thoughts, and only to bring his gold eyes to rest upon the floating body of none other than Mew. Her large eyes displayed – oxymoronically – hues of what seemed to be horror, perhaps slight repugnance, which contorted her whole face into a façade of feared disgust. The God Pokemon quirked his eyebrow upon seeing such an abnormal look among her features, but nonetheless shook it away as if it was nothing and instead stepped forward with his eyes regaining a mixed semblance of both annoyance and a tinge of curiosity.

"Mew," he began, voice slow and deep as ever, which hid, with ease, the jumpiness he had prior of her entrance, "where have you been? You just missed the meeting."

Despite that he had held a scolding tone, because he knew that she was aware of how important daily meetings were, the catlike Pokemon only shook slightly, as if afraid, or having just witnessed something that would scar her for the rest of her life. Arceus pulled back, eyebrow arching fully due to Mew's random actions, which, when compared to her daily, immature ways, seemed out of the ordinary. "Mew?" he began, calling to her as if trying to verify if she was alive or not. "Are you okay?"

Mew slowly turned her widened gaze to Arceus, muttering out ever so slowly, "I…saw…_things_."

Arceus frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

The catlike Pokemon slowly floated forward, stopping when she was a few feet away from his figure. She was now shaking like the end of an Ekans' tail, her own long tail limp like a dead limb, eyes still widened, and she looked like she was on the verge of screaming.

The God Pokemon in front of her deepened his frown. Knowing her, this was all a prank for humorous purposes as, for the record, she had pranked every Legendary on the council instead of him, though this was probably in order to avoid getting punished for it. However, even then, with the way she looked, her pupils dilated, her pink fur paling into a shaded white, she looked as if he was going to vomit in a matter of seconds (which was why Arceus took a cautious step backward from her assumed 'range of fire'). "Mew," he spoke again, this time more warning in his tone, "what is wrong?"

Mew looked at him, and she mouthed two names before muttering them out with sound added. "Mewtwo…Deoxys…"

Arceus' eyes narrowed, finding the dramatic moment…not so dramatic. Mewtwo, the manmade Pokemon who was a clone of Mew and therefore her brother, and Deoxys, the space virus that had touched down to Earth and soon found the place to be home, were included to be part of the Legendary team. However, they had spoken to him last night, stating that they thought that the evil crime syndicate, Team Rocket, was up to no good, and they requested that they be excused from today's meeting in order to survey the nearby Rocket base for the entire day. Arceus trusted them – they had proven themselves countless of times to be Pokemon one could count on – so he allowed them to be dismissed from the morning meeting. If nothing was happening with Team Rocket, then they were still allowed to skip the meeting seeing as how they had been watching the base all through the night.

Of course, looking at Mew's face of horror, and the situation the two genetic Pokemon placed themselves in, a new worry erupted throughout Arceus' mind. "Are they okay?" he asked somewhat hesitantly, fearing the worst based on what Mew was portraying. "Has Team Rocket captured them or something?"

Mew stared at him as if he was from another planet, but her prior expression returned and she shook her head. "No…they returned to their cave not too long ago…said it was a false alarm."

Arceus blinked, then sighed in relief. That was two less problems for him to stress over about – Mewtwo and Deoxys' possible demise, and new devious plans from Team Rocket. However, Mew's expression was still left unexplained, such as why Mewtwo and Deoxys were involved in it. "What's the problem then?" he asked, sounding annoyed seeing as how the qilinlike Pokemon could already predict that she was being melodramatic over whatever topic was bothering her.

"I…saw…them…" she mumbled.

"You saw them…what?"

"Doing…_it_…"

"Doing what?"

"…_it_."

"What's 'it'?"

"I saw them…"

"Yes, I know. What were they doing?"

"…_it_."

Arceus groaned in annoyance. It was obvious he was getting nowhere with this with Mew repeating herself as if she was mentally unstable. He was aware that she stayed with Mewtwo in his cave due to the fact that they were technically related, and after Mewtwo began to talk to Deoxys, a relationship of some sort flourished between them and the said female space virus soon moved in with the manmade Pokemon. Mew didn't mind having her as a roommate, as she had mentioned countless of times that she was happy Mewtwo had found someone to be with so he wouldn't be alone. In fact, Mew adored Deoxys like a big sister – and her, Deoxys, and Mewtwo had formed a sort of trio, to say the least.

Now, however, Mew was speaking of them as if they had just murdered somebody, or whatever the 'it' she spoke of meant. Arceus wasn't sure, nor did he sort of not want to. No doubt was it something horrific that would bring Mew – the being known to always find a reason to laugh at about any situation no matter how dark or sad it was – to near tears. She was young at heart, but when it came to some things, she was sensitive as well.

_Oh goodie…_Arceus thought as the recent possibilities of what 'it' meant ran laps through his mind_…another problem to worry about._

"I got up early…" Mew began again, voice trancelike as before, leaving Arceus to stare at her with confusion. "…I was going to wake up Mewtwo and Deoxys to get them ready for today's meeting, but when I got into their room…" She begun to shake, whimpering as if she was ready to burst into tears provoked by horrific memories. Arceus leaned forward, as if physically implying for her to finish, or at least try her best to. He still wasn't sure what she was trying to say.

"Go on," he muttered, obviously attempting to egg the rest out of her.

Mew took a deep breath, then continued, her paws still wrapped around her as if to preserve whatever warmth still resided within. "I saw them-"

Arceus arched his eyebrow.

"-on the ground-"

Arceus blinked, and the last part of her sentence came out of her mouth in a whisper barely loud enough for him to hear.

"-_on top of each other_."

As if all hell broke loose at the mention of those last words, Arceus pulled back, both his eyes widened and his black face succumbing to a blush.

_Oh…that's what she meant by 'it'._

If he recalled correctly, no one ever explained the concept of the 'Pidgeys and the Beedrills' to Mew, but apparently she knew something about it, because she looked horrified as any younger sister would when one caught sight of their big brother doing…_that_…with his girlfriend. Every nerve in Arceus was frozen, and suddenly the fear of having to explain it all in detail to Mew in what they were exactly doing, as well as try to assure her that the act itself was a very 'beautiful' and natural thing, grew inside of him like a manifesting parasite.

Why him? Just…why? He had enough problems to worry about…

Of course when he thought about it, both Mewtwo and Deoxys were honorable members of the Legendary council, having always followed the basic rules for all guardians of natural balance. One of the main rules for the council was that, although regular relationships were fine, mating wasn't allowed due to the fact that it had a higher risk of bringing new species of Legendary Pokemon out into the open. Knowing this, as well as Mewtwo and Deoxys' dedication to the council, them performing the act were completely out of character, which was why Arceus couldn't help but be a skeptic and have doubts.

"That's why I was late," Mew suddenly started again, earning Arceus' undivided attention. "After I saw them I ran away and hid for the next few hours."

Arceus frowned. He was convinced by the aforementioned facts that Mewtwo and Deoxys would never do such a thing. Because of this, he replied, "Mew, I think you interpreted wrong. Mewtwo and Deoxys are dedicated to the council – they would never break such an important rule."

Mew's expression of fear and repugnance broke away as soon as his doubts made themselves known. Her eyes narrowed into an annoyed semblance, her paws on her hips as her fur regained its silky, pink hue. Her tail swished around like an Arbok before lunging in to kill whatever prey was in sight, and a pout had rested itself on the tip of her snout. "I saw what I know and I know what I saw," she retorted, high voice fit into an angered hue. Of course, Arceus was just surprised that she had recovered from her sickened pose as fast as she did; although it wasn't long before he rolled his eyes out of impatience towards her obvious stubbornness.

"Mew," he muttered, "I'm sure you were just being paranoid and your mind deceived you. I have enough to worry about as it is, so if you don't mind, please return to your post on Earth and try to make the next meeting." He turned his back on her to walk away, but with a squeak of slight fear she quickly shot forward and stopped right in front of his face, causing him to nearly stumble back with his expression displaying surprise.

"Please let me stay here with you!" she then pleaded, pure hurt in her eyes as she placed her paws together in a begging manner.

Arceus choked on his spit. "_What_?"

"Please, Arceus!" she continued, ignoring how his expression seemed to represent the word 'blasphemy'. "I'm too scared to go back to Mewtwo's cave, and I don't want to be alone on Earth! Please! Please! Pretty-please with cherries and syrup on top! _Please_!"

Arceus' eyebrow twitched, although it was out of disbelief rather than anger for her obvious childishness. She actually wanted to stay with him for the rest of the day? Him – in the Hall of Legends? He had enough troubles already, but now he would have to put up with her immature attitude all by himself, and just because she was too paranoid to go back to her cave in fear of seeing the 'it' again (speaking of which, Arceus still thought that she was being fooled)? _No way_! The God Pokemon opened up his mouth to emit his negative response, but Mew beat him to it.

"Oh, thank you so much, Arceus!" she squealed, apparently jumping to the conclusion that he was going to happily accept her company. She had grown to believe with the fact that he listened to every problem Legendaries had that he wouldn't mind being her best buddy for the rest of the day, or at least until she was certain her brother and Deoxys were done doing…'it'.

Arceus opened his mouth to voice the correct response of how he wouldn't be able to handle her, but he was interrupted yet again when she flew forward and hugged his face. His eyes widened upon the contact, feeling her fuzzy warmth against his cheeks, and, a little into the embrace, he couldn't tell if his face was warm from her, or if he was really…

…blushing.

Why would he be blushing, he then thought? It was preposterous! Among being caught up within his denial to accept that a God like him could possibly crack under 'cute' pressure, Mew had already floated off deeper into the room, performing twirls out of happiness and stating how much fun they were going to have. Arceus wanted so badly to correct her and tell her that he had no time to keep her occupied, but as he remembered the embrace, and the way she looked at him, envious for his help, he could only sigh upon opening his mouth.

He had hoped to take the rest of the day off to relax and possibly ease some of the tension within his muscles; but, as always, his break was postponed.

Arceus returned to his hooves, eyeing Mew with slight annoyance as she flew around above him.

His headache had yet to go away.

He was stressed out completely.

He now had to keep Mew company for the next set of hours.

And it was only nine in the morning.

Somehow, Arceus was certain that this was going to be a _very_ long day…

-ooo-

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**To Be Continued**

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Hehe, how will this day go? Were Mewtwo and Deoxys really doing 'it', or was Mew just being overdramatic like she always is? xD

Next chapter coming soon.


	2. Of Sweets and Soap Operas

Hey peoples!

Well, sorry for the wait, but here's the next chapter. So much mayhem, hehe. -grins-

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Pokemon, or "Nine in the Afternoon" by Panic at the Disco.

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**Chapter 2: Of Sweets and Soap Operas**

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-ooo-

"Ooh! Ooh! What should we do first?"

Mew squealed with childish joy as she twirled around in the air, a semblance of excitement drenching her pink countenance. With her tail moving to an imaginary beat, swishing around as if her dancing performance was choreographed to it, she did a few more barrel rolls in the air, ignoring how Arceus was watching her from below, eyebrow twitching out of slight anger and – possibly – at the strange feeling of misery that was now erupting throughout his body, dimming his proud soul into a shriveled prune of both depression and slight embarrassment.

What did he do to deserve this?

He shook his head in disappointment, his skull still pounding from earlier and therefore dissipating his urges to ponder for a plausible answer – to think over his whole millions of years of existence in hopes of spotting the one error that later wound up putting him in this mess as if it was some sort of freaky karma situation. He knew he was exaggerating a bit, but it wasn't helping with the whole fact that only five minutes had passed since Mew started to dance at his 'agreement' of letting her stay with him in hopes of escaping whatever act of reproduction that was occurring at her brother's cave – if there was any, as previously claimed. Arceus was still skeptic, and was even slightly convinced to just go to Mewtwo's haven and confirm it himself; though, Mew would obviously stop him, probably going into a wild frenzy of pleas not to see the horrors that were supposedly happening there.

The qilinlike Pokemon sighed in annoyance. As mentioned before, only five minutes had passed since Mew's request to stay, and she had been dancing around the whole time, leaving the God Pokemon to witness happiness flash before his eyes in memories of the past when he still had it; which, as to now, he no longer contained an inch of joy, because it all dissipated from constant stress brought onto him from the catastrophic ways of the Legendaries.

What was it called to turn your lips upward out of satisfaction again? He couldn't remember.

No, seriously, he couldn't. It was kind of pathetic, to tell the truth.

He closed his eyes, hoping that the day would just wash away. Perhaps, once he reopened his eyelids, he would find himself waking up in bed, and the whole roommate deal forged with Mew would turn out to be a nightmare caused by eating week-old pizza that had been haunting the back of the fridge.

But no – he apparently didn't deserve such harmony.

He opened his gaze, and only to slightly gasp, his head snapping back when he realized Mew's face was floating right in front of his; though, she was hanging upside down, and therefore Arceus' golden eyes that were dimming every second lowered themselves to hers. He made extra sure that annoyance was radiating from them – to at least be obvious enough for Mew to catch the silent message that he was in no mood for any of the childish games that were probably running through her giddy mind. Of course, she just grinned, revealing pearly-white teeth that made Arceus' face fall into a look of slight nervousness, anxious to know what she was thinking, despite that he was somewhat distracted by his tinge of amazement towards how the blood wasn't rushing through her head due to her upside-down position.

"What, Mew?" he eventually brought himself to mutter, trying his best to at least keep his tone mellow, though the hue of constriction that came instead had proven itself to be inevitable.

The pink Legendary giggled, either apparently not minding his obvious annoyance, or finding it humorous, as she pulled her head up to continue floating around in the air. She soon stopped when she returned to hover by the side of his face, his narrowed eyes only following her as if he was studying an unimpressive creature, and a stiff frown plastered itself onto his jaw like the final touch of strictness to his already-stoic posture. Mew continued to giggle, yet again ignoring it all, and instead repeated her earlier question that he had been too lost in his thoughts to notice the first time.

"What should we do first?"

Arceus' eyes remained narrowed. He was untaken back from the question, as he had actually been expecting such a thing, therefore only exchanging with himself another imaginary dollar to the self bet that the day couldn't possibly get any worse.

And, unbeknownst to him, soon thereafter, he would be adding another mental dollar.

"I know!" Mew suddenly squealed, Arceus' dull eyes focusing on thin air as if he was a frustrated kindergartner stumped on a math question, no longer finding thinking about it much at all worth it. Meanwhile, the pink Pokemon floated around his face, though he only continued to stare impatiently into space. "We could eat some breakfast!"

Arceus' eyes brightened a little, his strict face relaxing into one of slight anxiousness. _Well, that doesn't sound so bad_, he then thought, his worries easing themselves since he had assumed at first that she was planning a sort of childish activity. His stomach growled as if on cue, and his current thoughts dissipated from beneath his noticed hunger. _I'm sort of hungry myself_.

Of course, he didn't want to let his stoical frown give in one bit, so he kept it glued onto his face and turned his head to look at Mew, emitting his words in a mellow tone as if he wasn't concerned for his own need of nourishment. "Very well -"

Mew was gone.

His eyes widened and he snapped his head around, searching for the pink Legendary, wondering where she could've disappeared to in a short matter of seconds. She was just there; where'd she go? His gaze scanned the meeting room, but the only things he saw were the empty jury seats and judge pedestal that already occupied the space, as well as the golden walls that were reflecting his bewildered expression. Mew was nowhere in sight, as if she had just been eliminated from existence, though he felt a slight tinge of impatience cover his mood – he wouldn't be surprised if this was a prank of the sort. With others' annoyance came Mew's entertainment.

"Mew?" he called, curiosity for her location somehow compacting itself into his firm voice, despite that his anger was more noticeable. He began to growl as he turned around, searching for her among the empty room. Had she left? He wouldn't really be surprised if she did; the said Legendary was always unpredictable, and, for some reason, he felt slightly satisfied at the thought that she did – that he was alone and he could dwell deeper into his misery all by himself with no possible interruptions.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed from behind him, and his eyes blinked in surprise before he turned around to face the source. Mew was floating a few feet away, her happy expression still present, and behind her was a humongous pile of various candies and sweets, which she was too preoccupied with to notice the bewilderment that was still covering Arceus upon her disappearance. Then again, she didn't have time to notice, because just as fast as she had returned to the room, killing all of the hopes inside Arceus that she was gone and he was finally alone, the said God Pokemon allowed his eyes to narrow, his frown now twitching from silent snarls. "Mew!" he then snapped. "Where'd you go?"

Mew turned back around to face him, her expression showing curiosity rather than fear to his sudden, unexplained mood, but she soon shrugged it away when she moved to the side and allowed him to see the large pile of treats behind her. His expression lightened into – yet again – a look of bewilderment, while Mew only chuckled to herself. "Breakfast!" she announced, throwing her paw into the air as if informing an imaginary army behind the qilinlike Pokemon that it was feeding time.

Arceus blinked a few more times. _Breakfast_? He turned his eyes to Mew, who was now displaying the goofiest grin he had ever seen. She had teleported somewhere, got the sweets, and brought it back to the Hall of Legends in a few seconds flat? But…from where? He didn't really heed this question as much as the one that slowly emitted from his mouth, hints of skepticism riding it. "You want to eat sweets for breakfast?"

The pink Legendary twirled around out of happiness, though she soon stopped, allowing him to eye her gleeful expression once again. "Yes!" she laughed, and she quickly threw herself back, diving into the pile of treats, causing small pieces with colorful wraps to ricochet all across the tile flooring – some stopping right in front of Arceus' hooves, which he eyed with disbelief, mentally questioning how unhealthy one could possibly get.

But, then again, this _was_ Mew.

The catlike Legendary stuck her head out of the pile, the endless amount of enamel-killing food around her hiding the rest of her body, and she grinned again when she met Arceus' unimpressed eyes. She grabbed a small lemon drop from the top of her head, holding it out in the direction of the qilinlike Pokemon. "You want some?"

Arceus slowly shook his head, feeling sick just at the mere mental image of her eating it all by herself. Of course, as she did so, he swallowed his gag and instead resurrected the earlier question he had yet to emit out loud. "Where did you get all of this?"

Mew stopped right when another chocolate bar was in the midst of entering her mouth, eyeing him with confusion. She soon brought the chocolate bar down, though, tapping her chin thoughtfully as she brought her gaze into the air in the act of pondering. Arceus quirked his eyebrow, wondering why she was taking so long to give him an answer. "Some place," she eventually replied, immediately continuing afterwards by feeding on the chocolate bar, ignoring how peanut bits were glued to the roof of her mouth from an encasement of caramel.

The God Pokemon frowned. "How can you not know where you got it from?"

Mew shrugged, remaining silent as she fed her vast stomach with the pile of candies all around her. Arceus felt suspicious, as if he knew she wasn't telling him the whole story, purposely avoiding mentioning any clues towards the correct answer by shoving sweets into her mouth until she couldn't even talk.

Eventually, he sighed in disappointment, not wanting to even bother. Instead, with the loss of his appetite at the sight of the slaughter of innocent sweets in front of him by a famished Mew, he pushed away the rest of his questions, his still-pounding head adding to his urge to ignore it all; or, as quoted continuously by Darkrai: 'Not give a flying damn'. The God Pokemon turned his back on Mew to walk the opposite way, though he was soon stopped by Mew's curious voice.

Arceus brought his eyes to the pink Legendary, expression returning to display exhausted annoyance. "I'm going to watch my stories."

AKA: his soap operas.

At first, Mew displayed slight nervousness as if not wanting him to do such a thing, but quickly shoved it away and returned to eating her sweets, hoping that the headline news wasn't on at the moment. Meanwhile, Arceus arched an eyebrow at this, but ignored it, leaving Mew to her business and making his way to the large TV that sat in the corner of the room – courtesy of Raikou, who had one day randomly found a way to install circuit outlets on some of the Hall's walls, which, of course followed with a plasma screen television set for all of the Legendaries' enjoyment. The cable and electricity was also from Raikou, and sometimes Zapdos when the grumpy hawk actually felt like contributing to something. Though Arceus found the machine to be only a symbol of the other Legendaries' childish needs to watch humans brawl, the qilinlike Pokemon had found his own amusement shortly after among noticing the existence of realitylike drama.

AKA: his soap operas.

With slight comfort gracing his expression, he tapped his hoof on the power button of the TV's remote, watching the black screen among the silver-colored box flicker immediately onto the channel he was looking for. "C'mon May," he then mumbled to himself, slight anticipation covering his voice, "you gotta tell Brendan your feelings before he slips into another coma."

Just as the said fictional characters appeared on the screen, the show changed into what looked like the opening to a news channel.

_Oh crap_, Mew thought as she poked her head out of her lessened pile of candy, biting her lip.

Arceus' eyes only blinked, though they soon narrowed as he grew interested in what had happened, leaning his head forward to peer closely at the screen. "We interrupt this episode of _May's Anatomy_," began the narrator, his firm voice fit for an anchorman, "to bring you this breaking news!"

Immediately the scene switched to a reporter, who was standing in front of what seemed to be a store, the blaring light of morning shining across his stern face as he brought a microphone up to his mouth. Simultaneously, the topic of the breaking news flashed across the bottom of the screen, highlighting four words in bold that summed the whole incident up:

**Candy Store Robbed**

As if on cue, Arceus' eyebrow began to twitch.

"I'm here at the community candy shop of Pallet Town, Kanto," the reporter began, serious eyes transfixed straightly into the camera, "where, as reported only minutes ago, a robbery has occurred." He stepped aside, revealing the whole shop, as well as the owner of it – a round man that seemed to be in his fifties kneeling down in front of the empty store, crying helplessly as if his whole life had been taken away right before his eyes. "Apparently, the culprit was able to sneak in when the shop owner went out back to gather supplies," the reporter continued, coming back into view, "and steal every single assortment of candy in a few seconds flat, escaping before the owner returned to discover that he had been picked clean.

"A suspect has yet to be identified. No one claimed to see anything out of the ordinary during the time where the crime was claimed to be committed. Investigators are still searching for clues, but they had commented themselves that whoever did this must either be incredibly skilled at thieving, or a sort of Pokemon with powers over such things as teleportation-"

Arceus twitched.

"-or a move capable of easy escape. We will keep you posted as the investigation progresses, and if you have any clues to who could've done this, please call-"

Arceus turned off the television before the reporter could finish, allowing the room to quiet down into an eerie silence. He remained uneventful after that, keeping his hidden gaze directed towards the ground, as if he had been changed into a motionless puppet. However, he soon snapped his head around, his face drenched with hatred as he roared out one word that brought Mew to freeze in her attempt of sneaking away before he noticed.

"_MEW!_"

-ooo-

Mew only watched in slight anxiousness as Arceus paced around in front of her, thinking of how to begin her vocal punishment like a strict father clueless on what to scold his disobedient child on. His eyebrows were furrowed, giving him the semblance that he was so angry he was at a loss for words, and Mew could only shrink lower into the floor, trying to hide behind thin air; though, it was obviously no use as Arceus stopped, boring his narrowed eyes into her wide ones. It was then when he finally emitted the start of his lecture. "Why did you steal that candy?" he snarled, coming closer, sharp teeth exposed. Mew squealed, hiding behind her paws, but soon revealed her expression of fear and slight regret as she replied with the only response she could come up with.

"I-I…w-was…hungry."

Arceus snorted, pulling back, shaking his head in an attempt to smother some of his anger so he at least wouldn't explode and scare the pink Legendary to death – though he was beginning to like the idea of doing so. She had just added another problem for him to worry about, and now occupying half of his thoughts were how they were going to fix this. He couldn't just ignore it and move on – that was completely against his Legendary ways. Perhaps, he thought, he could convince Jirachi to wish truckloads of candy upon the shop owner; maybe even more than he had before. Yeah, that would probably fix this whole mess.

The God Pokemon, lost in his thoughts, didn't notice Mew's next words. "I'm sorry, Arceus!" she pleaded, grasping the God Pokemon's surprised attention when she floated forward and kneeled before his hooves like a slave asking for forgiveness. "I thought the shop owner wouldn't mind – I thought he could just get some more! I'm sorry! Please forgive me! Please!" She clasped her paws together, looking more hopeless by the second as her bottom lip puckered outwards into the form of a baby's frown, and her tail lay across the ground in a limp, dead manner. Arceus didn't want to mutter even a sound since, remembering the last time, she had automatically assumed that he had agreed to allowing her to stay with him, and no doubt would one spoken word be misinterpreted once again.

However, he couldn't ignore her request for forgiveness. She just looked so miserable on the ground – like a dying person with nothing to lose, and he couldn't possibly stay mad at her, which would add to the bonfire that was her sensitivity. The last thing he needed was to be seen as a heartless being in her eyes when he was being forced to stay with her for the rest of the day, though her expression implied that she wouldn't mind it if he indeed scolded her, physically agreeing that she deserved it. Even then, though…

The God Pokemon found his expression lightening up as he gazed more and more into Mew's saddened face, which remained in position as if she wasn't giving up until he emitted some sort of acceptance to her apology. Arceus brought his gaze to the ground, knowing that his anger was completely gone and trying to resurrect it would be pointless. She had said sorry, and that's all she could do. Unless the shop owner wanted regurgitated candy, Mew had no way of giving it back. Besides, Arceus found an unexplainable urge to smile as he looked at Mew – she looked kind of cute all pouting the way she was. He soon shook these thoughts away, however, instead keeping his voice stern as he muttered out his next word with a deep, elongated sigh.

"Fine."

Almost instantly, Mew grinned in glee, obviously happy that Arceus had hinted to forget about it. The God Pokemon would indeed ask Jirachi the next morning to restore the shop owner's candy supply; but, until then, he simply turned his head away, not wanting his pride and elegance to crack under the loving gaze Mew was now throwing at him.

Until she hugged his face again, that is.

He blushed as he felt her softness touch his cheeks, her snout nuzzling right underneath his eye. He could feel his heart flutter, flying around in his chest as the cold feeling that had erupted throughout his stomach upon meeting her physical contact changed into a comforting sensation of warmth. Before he could realize it, he closed his eyes, smiling slightly, enjoying the feeling of her cheek caressing his affectionately – his troubles washing away from beneath her loving hold. He liked the feeling – it was a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time.

They remained silent, smiling as they enjoyed each other's body heat. However, Mew soon pulled away, a red tint of what could be considered a blush covering her face as she twirled backwards in an obvious attempt to hide it. Arceus wasn't paying attention, though, too busy blushing himself to notice. Mew soon returned, her blush dissipating and her goofy grin returning as she floated by his face, which held a dazed expression.

Because he suddenly thought that - maybe - the rest of the day wouldn't be so bad.

He couldn't explain why he suddenly felt this way, but he didn't really care.

"Let's watch a movie!" Mew squealed, floating over to the stack of movies that rested beside the TV. Arceus only hummed in response, as if not minding anything she did anymore, sounding as if his troubles had disappeared into oblivion – never to bother him again.

It was such a good feeling.

Mew came over, her grin wide while a DVD was cradled between her two paws, and she held it out to his face so he could read the title of what she wanted to watch.

_Cloverfield_

Arceus suddenly frowned.

Good feeling's gone.

-ooo-

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *

Arceus is a Hoennshipper. xD

Anyway, this is all good so far. I can't wait to get started on the next chapter - the Cloverfield part is going to be so much fun to write. :D

"I saw it! It's alive! It's huge!"

"...Mew, that's your tail."


	3. You're My Main Dude

Hey peoples!

Here's the next chapter. Beware, though, there are spoilers for the movie _Cloverfield_, so...yeah...

Thanks to all those who reviewed the last chap!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Pokemon, "Nine in the Afternoon" by Panic at the Disco, or _Cloverfield_.

* * *

**Chapter 3: You're My Main Dude****

* * *

**

-ooo-

Arceus didn't know what was more horrific – the movie, or what Mew was doing while watching it.

The said cat Legendary screamed as she flew backwards from the TV, clinging to the first thing she could possibly hold onto – which happened to be the top part of Arceus' face. The God Pokemon frowned, not cringing at all from her sudden closeness seeing as how he had been expecting such a thing since Mew turned off every single light in the room, popped the _Cloverfield _DVD into the player right below the TV, and forced him to sit beside her right in front of the screen as the horror movie began to play. It had been an hour or so into it, tricking the viewers at the beginning with the fact that it started out all calm and normal – like a situation seen in a simple drama movie; though, in a few seconds flat, the monster attacked the city, driving its inhabitants into fear and crime as they all struggled to escape the area.

Of course, Arceus showed no signs of fright during the whole thing, as he had been forced to be one of the first to watch it after Rayquaza somehow managed to retrieve a copy. The qilinlike Pokemon had a strong memory, able to remember every single occurrence in the movie from up to the ending credits, which explained why he didn't scream whenever the monster roared, as Mew was doing, or twitched every few seconds in suspense, jumping to the side and in the process grasping tightly to Mew's body for support, as Mew was also doing to him. Not only that, but he wasn't one for horror movies; not because he didn't like being scared – there was rarely a thing in the world that drove even an inch of fear to reside within him – but because he saw films made for scaring as only a collage of cheap special effects and large amounts of bloody gore and screams, or whatever disturbing extremity the 'sickening' (as titled by Arceus) directors happened to conjure in the pit of their dark imaginations.

"Mew," he began, his voice stern as Mew only cuddled closer into his face, her fuzzy, pink body, which was shaking like the end of an Ekans' tail, enshrouding his eyesight completely. "Get. Off. My. _Face_."

Needless to say, Mew didn't hear him over the monster's roars on the TV, and therefore Arceus growled slightly before trapping her body between his two hooves, pulling her off against her own will, and then plopping her back down beside him. She continued to say nothing, not even considering his annoyed expression as she cuddled up into his side, hugging her tail as she shook in a crazy manner, eyes widened in fear. Arceus sighed in disappointment – definitely with the fact that Mew had said that she had seen _Cloverfield_ at least a dozen times; but yet there she was, squeaking in fright and wrapping her tail around her eyes like a blindfold so she couldn't see the events occurring on the screen. The fact that the room was nearly pitch-black probably wasn't helping the fear factor, as when the lights of the meeting room were turned off, everything was immediately enshrouded behind a veil of shadows, which added to the horror semblance that the nearly-deserted chamber was already receiving from the movie.

Then again, it was Mew's idea to turn off the lights for the movie, and Arceus wasn't surprised that it was just another action Mew did before comprehending the consequences.

The God Pokemon grunted as he continued to squint his eyes so the amplified glow of the TV screen wouldn't blind him. He was just thankful that Mew and him were at least sitting somewhat of a far distance away, helping to ease any motion sickness that would've plagued them due to the film's unique perspective through a guy's handheld digital camera, which shook like crazy whenever the character and his friends were running or performing any other jumpy actions.

"Mew," Arceus started once again when he felt Mew scoot closer to him, squealing in fear against his fur – and he was getting rather annoyed by her irrelevant fright towards a movie that showed a fictional situation, "it's just a movie; it's not real. Would you please relax?"

The catlike Legendary ignored him once again. Instead, she moved her head to the side to glimpse at the screen with one, large, fear-stricken eye, yelping when she realized that the main characters of the movie were now running for their lives down an army men-covered street, fleeing into a nearby subway tunnel entrance right as the colossal monster crossed over them with a stentorian roar.

Arceus rolled his eyes, feeling nothing towards the quite tense moment due to previously-mentioned reasons.

Of course, the movie was now quiet and eventless, seeing as how the main characters were now conversing with one another on a deserted platform for an absent subway train. Due to its underground location, the monster's roars and stomps as it rampaged through the town sounded distant, as well as the constant fires of various weaponry as the human military struggled to stop the beast from wreaking anymore havoc. It continued to be quiet, though soon the camera began to shake as the group decided to walk down the actual subway tunnel in hopes of safely reaching the surface location where the girlfriend of Rob – one of the main characters – was claimed to be trapped in her apartment.

Mew seemed to relax then, as, for the first time in a while within the movie, it was calm. Though, despite the previously-stated fact that she had seen the movie more times than Arceus, she was still acting as if it was her first time viewing it, unaware that it was simply calm before the storm. Slowly she took her paws from Arceus' side, in which the God Pokemon only frowned, predicting that her paws would soon be on his side again, while the catlike Legendary gently returned to where she sat before the movie started – before the horrific events she had already seen drove her to scoot by Arceus, and to the point where he was on the verge of insanity.

Then again, he sometimes felt that he had been born without sanity in the first place.

He brought his gold eyes to her to shoot an angry glare that she probably wouldn't notice or comprehend its origin. In fact, she didn't even notice that he was looking at her, as she was too busy hugging her tail against her front for support, her teeth chattering from behind her seal lips. Arceus found his eyebrows rising at the sight - she looked so timid and vulnerable; it was actually sort of funny, but not in a crude kind of way.

Meanwhile, the group of main characters in _Cloverfield_ – Rob, Hud, Marlena, and Lily – continued to walk down the dark subway tunnel. Hud, who was holding the camera, made a random reference to the possibility of homeless guys on fire running into them at the moment, though his allies soon scowled him due to his obvious need to liven up the mood, which was practically pointless for reasons that were pretty self-explanatory. Mew chuckled slightly at the joke, apparently finding Hud's misplaced humor amusing, and Arceus could only narrow his eyes, unimpressed, his body tensing as he prepared his muscles to be clung onto by the pink Legendary beside him – and all because of the upcoming scene.

You know, the scene where the monster's dog-sized minions chase after them all –

"RUN!"

Oh crap, it just happened.

Before Arceus could dodge, Mew slapped herself onto his face again, screaming herself as Rob and the others began to run down the tunnel in hope of escaping the aforementioned parasites that were attacking them. Arceus couldn't see what happened after that, as he was now flailing around, Mew glued to his face as she continued to yelp at the top of her lungs, which wasn't helping the God Pokemon's reoccurring headache. He continued to stumble all over the place, the extra weight to his face and the lack of his eyesight causing him to lose all sense of direction.

"Mew! Get off!" he roared, fearing at that direct moment that he was possibly on the verge of colliding with a wall. Mew paid no heed, too busy screaming to listen to his frustrated voice, which was coming out in a muffled manner since her body partially covered his mouth as well.

Henceforth the reason why he preferred soap operas.

"Save me, Arceus!" Mew pleaded, her loud voice vibrating throughout the God Pokemon's mind. He could only continue to flail around, lacking any clue to where he was going as he struggled to pry Mew off of his face. Of course, she just clung on tighter, not comprehending at the moment that he was in desperate need to see the darkness around him – which was an oxymoronic thing to say but he didn't really care. He shook his head around, contemplating on pulling her off with his hooves, though the sole fact that she was holding on like a blood-sucking leech somehow made this idea look less convincing.

So he continued to stumble around, mumbling out more orders for Mew to get off, and even throwing in a few reminders that it was all a movie into the collage of scowls that came with it. However, Mew still ignored him, screaming her brains out even when Rob, Hud, Marlena, and Lily had successfully escaped the dog-sized parasites by hiding in a staff room; though, she soon realized this, her eyes blinking in confusion and yelps for help coming to an abrupt stop. Arceus still stumbled around regardless that her hold on his face had loosened, and she soon let go altogether, floating back to her seat to continue watching the movie.

Meanwhile, Arceus continued to flail around like an idiot, unaware that Mew had left him; though he soon opened his eyes in the midst of stumbling around when he felt cold air touch the areas around his forehead again…

…and only to gasp upon noticing that a wall was right in front of him.

_Smack_!

Arceus smashed flat-face right into the golden wall.

Silence.

Then:

"Here…comes…_the pain_…"

The God Pokemon stepped back upon mumbling those words, his hooves trembling as the predicted aftereffects of the collision shot throughout his entire front.

Of course, Mew, oblivious to it all, just continued to watch _Cloverfield_, unaware of how Arceus toppled over in pain, his back hoof still twitching.

Eventually Mew noticed the lack of his presence, and turned her head to eye the darkness around her. She was unaware of Arceus' accident, having considered the strange and random thump that had come with it to be only part of the distant explosions emitting from the TV. "Come on!" she then called out to him, her voice back to being jumpy and overexcited, as if her prior fear had never existed since the movie's events had grown calm once again. "You're missing the best part!"

An incoherent curse from the darkness was the only response.

Arceus could only sigh as he struggled to get up before Mew showed any signs of wanting to help him. Then again, the pink Legendary was too preoccupied with watching _Cloverfield_, which, as Arceus reluctantly approached on aching, sore hooves, he noticed that it was the part where Rob and the others were climbing the sky-high apartment buildings in search for Rob's girlfriend, Beth, who was stuck on one of the top floors. Arceus grunted, happy that the movie was somewhat close to being over, and when the lights would come back on he would throw the DVD out the window before Mew even noticed.

Until then, though, all he could do was plop himself beside Mew, cringing from the lingering pain that shot through his body in response. Mew didn't heed this, her large eyes locked onto the screen, as Arceus squinted his sensitive gaze to help overpower the movie's foreign lights.

Minutes passed, and Arceus was surprised that Mew had yet to scream again – even at the part where the main characters were struggling to get on the helicopters and escape the city, the vicious monster right behind them the whole time. Soon the helicopters took off, soaring above the town as the monster gave chase, bombs from nearby airplanes crashing onto its back in the midst of it and causing the beast to stumble over, collapsing from it all. Mew continued to emit nothing, though when Arceus cast a glance towards her, he noticed that she was chewing at the end of her tail in a nervous manner, and Arceus could feel his own teeth grit in slight suspense; not from the movie, but from the fact that she was like a ticking time bomb, and he was seriously considering scooting away or making up some excuse to leave before she clung onto his face again and cut off the blood flow to his brain.

Meanwhile, the monster retaliated on the helicopter carrying Hud, Rob, and Beth, its claw slapping the vehicle out of the air. The emergency alarm went off as the mechanism spun out of control, heading for the grassy fields outside of the city. Mew squeaked in fear, though she didn't scream, and instead got closer and closer to the screen to help pinpoint what was happening. Arceus didn't realize she was doing this until his view was blocked by an eclipsing mesh of pink fur. He didn't say anything, however, as he didn't care much for the movie anyway, which was why he remained silent, quirking his eyebrow at how Mew was only an inch away from the screen, her widened eyes glued to it as if she was hypnotized. It was still at the part with the characters' helicopter on the verge of crashing, and therefore the camera's perspective was shaking like a high-magnitude earthquake.

Arceus only rolled his eyes, becoming annoyed by the loud beeping sound emitting from the TV.

A little while after that, the movie was over, though Arceus could only confirm the now-displayed credits through the corner of the screen since Mew's body had blocking it since the helicopter scene. He sighed in relief, quickly getting up, walking over to the wall, and turning on the overhead lights, which blared into his darkness-adjusted eyes and therefore caused him to cringe at the brightness. He then returned his gaze to Mew, who was still standing right in front of the screen, seeming to even drool slightly, and the God Pokemon behind her could only grimace at the sight. He grunted in annoyance as he approached her, muttering out in the midst of it: "Mew, come on, the movie's over."

No response.

Arceus arched an eyebrow, though his frown was strong with annoyance. "Mew?" he muttered, his voice louder than before.

No response.

"Mew!" It was a snap now.

Still no response.

"MEW!" Now a full-fledged roar.

No response. Wow, embarrassing.

Arceus snarled before walking forward to tap the Pokemon in the back with his hoof. Right as he was about to do so, though, she turned around, revealing her dazed gazed and drooling mouth as she then began to stumble around like a drunk person. Arceus gaped in bewilderment. What was wrong with her? She came closer to him, groaning slightly as if she was dizzy, and her skin maintained a light tint of green that could be seen through her fur.

The God Pokemon rolled his eyes. Whatever her problem was, it would probably all be okay as long as she wasn't –

Mew suddenly gagged forward, vomiting up the hordes of candy she had consumed before – and all over Arceus' hooves.

– motion sick.

-ooo-

"Sorry about puking on you."

Arceus could only glare at Mew, who was sending him a nervous grin, having immediately recovered from her motion sickness gained from sitting too close to the screen an hour after regurgitating all over Arceus' hooves, which he was now cleaning in a bowl of water, grimacing every few seconds of the way. He knew it wasn't Mew's fault, though she was stupid enough to sit closer to a screen that was showing a movie filmed in a jumpy, nausea-inducing manner; but apart from that the pink Legendary's stomach tended to be sensitive when it came to some things. He had seen her consume objects people on _Fear Factor_ wouldn't swallow for their lives, and sometimes all it took was a little jolt to make her stomach regret doing such a thing. She was unpredictable like that.

Because of this, he brought his gold eyes to Mew, who was now staring at him, her large gaze begging for forgiveness in the same way she had done before. And, as with the previous situation, Arceus couldn't stay mad at her with the way she looked so hopeless. Sure enough, if it had been Raikou, Lugia, or even Rayquaza that had given him the fun task of cleaning partially-digested material nourishment from his hooves, he would've forced Giratina to banish them to the somber pits of the Underworld without any objections.

However, for Mew, staring into her eyes made him conjure up an exception. Despite how much he wanted to kick, roar, or even brawl anyone in sight for the mere predicaments he had been put through so far, he couldn't bring himself to think of Mew as a possible source to take his stress out on.

Dear everything that could be associated with the word 'holy', what was wrong with him?

He shook his head in disappointment, continuing to soak his front hooves in the bowl of water before him. Meanwhile, Mew danced around, obviously waiting for him to be done so they could move onto the next activity located on her mental list of things to do for the day. Arceus whimpered slightly at the sight of her pondering face, sensing that she was thinking of something which its destructive qualities could outmatch that of a nuclear bomb. Of course, he refused to be scared of Mew, of all things existent, which was why he decided to change the topic by bringing forth one of the questions he had been wondering about during their viewing of _Cloverfield_. "Mew," he began, voice still stern, "why were you so scared of the movie? You said you've seen quite a lot of times…"

Mew blinked at his question, but nonetheless ceased her air ballet and floated closer to his face, her expression showing bewilderment as she muttered out her response. "That movie gets me all hyped up every single time I watch it." She grinned. "I mean, with the monster and suspenseful situations, it freaks me out all the same."

Arceus grunted. "But it's not real. How can you be scared of something that isn't real?"

At that moment, Mew frowned as if she had been offended, and she jabbed her paw forward right in front of his face, causing him to display a look of surprise. "_Oh yeah_?" she then reckoned, eyes narrowed. "Well what if the 'fictional' world that movie took place in was actually the REAL world – and the world _we_ live; the world of Pokemon – is actually just" – she looked around the room as if to think up of an idea – "I don't know – a worldwide successful video game franchise! And it has its own movies and various merchandise, and fans of it even write their own stories involving Pokemon!" She suddenly gasped in fear, holding her face between her two paws. "What if what we're doing right now is just a story being written by an obsessive fan?!" She squeaked, biting her claws as she began to shake in immense fright.

Arceus stared at her as if she was demented.

Then his expression soon grew serious, and his stern voice came out with a scowling tone.

"Mew, that is the most _ridiculous_ theory I've ever heard."

Mew dropped her expression of fright, instead placing her paws on her hips in a scolding manner. "You don't know that!" she retorted.

But the God Pokemon only rolled his eyes as he ignored her, instead continuing with washing his hooves.

-ooo-

* * *

**To Be Continued

* * *

**

**Hud**: Do you guys remember a couple of years ago when that guy was lighting homeless people on fire in the subways?  
**Rob Hawkins**: Jesus, Hud! Maybe not the best time for this conversation down here!  
**Hud**: Right.  
[_awkward silent pause_]  
**Hud**: I just can't stop thinking how scary it'd be if a flaming homeless guy came running...  
**Rob Hawkins, Lily Ford, Marlena Diamond**: HUD!  
**Hud**: I'm just saying. Sorry.

xD

Anyway, Arceus should listen to Mew more often.

...I'm watching you, Arceus. :D

Next chap coming soon!


	4. The City is at War

Hey peoples!

Well, here's the next chapter. It's a little longer than usual, but ironically I wasn't able to fit the cooking scene in here. So...yeah...

Anyway, thanks to poka, Attila12, silver geminite, Shiny Hunter, and Dragonluvr1993 for reviewing. :D

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokemon, "Nine in the Afternoon" by Panic at the Disco, or anything belonging to Cobra Starship.

* * *

**Chapter 4: The City is at War**

* * *

-ooo-

A childish giggle. "What should we do now?"

An aggravated sigh. "I don't know, Mew."

Mew floated around Arceus, who had just finished cleaning his hooves from emesis and was now inspecting them in the overhead lights' shine, searching for any leftover splatters that perhaps had survived the vigorous washing in the bowel of water beside him. His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized them, appearing more determined than a jewel-crafter who was in the middle of cutting a priceless diamond. He soughed in relief, mentally reminding himself to check in the bathroom later and see if there was any sanitizer he could spray on them.

The God Pokemon pushed the bowel of water away, which had turned into a nauseating pool of colorful matter in the midst of his cleaning, and brought his gold eyes to Mew, who had been watching him rub his hooves spotless from her disgorged materials. She met his eyes, choosing then to show a nervous grin – it was obvious that he was still somewhat mad about the issue, and therefore she didn't want to resurrect her punishment when she had escaped out of experiencing it by the skin on her teeth. "Is there something you wanna do?" she asked, stuttering slightly as if hoping that the question would take Arceus' mind off of whatever Armageddon his face implied he was conjuring.

Arceus rolled his eyes in a frustrated manner, his anger dissipating since Mew had seemed unfazed by it. Instead he got up, as if contemplating on walking away, and, with a fatigued tone that fit a hopeless case, muttered, "I want to sleep, if you really must know."

Mew's face suddenly broke out into one of joy, laughter escaping her mouth as she twirled towards the qilinlike being's head. "But the day's just getting started!" she riposted, now floating in front of his face, in which his expression was firm and didn't even twitch out of its annoyed state. "How can you be tired?"

The God Pokemon's frown deepened. To answer her question, he wanted to explode, throwing in her face on how hectic she had made his life in the mere hours of staying with him. He wanted to remind her on how she had stolen from a candy store, and in the middle of consuming it all had prevented him from watching the newest episode of _May's Anatomy_ – the season finale that probably wouldn't be on the air again for a while. After that, she had forced him to watch _Cloverfield_ with her, which had ended disastrously with her throwing up all over his hooves from motion sickness, and him having to clean it off in the midst of gagging himself while suffering from the pain of his headache that had been amplified through how her inability to handle fear from a fictional situation had led him to crashing into one of the golden walls around them. He wouldn't be surprised if he now had a concussion bigger than her lodged in the middle of his brain.

But…no…he couldn't do that. It would be cruel; not to mention against his normal ways of being tolerant. He sighed again, though it only lightened his expression of frustration a little. "I'm exhausted, Mew," he finally answered in a tone filled with aggravation. The catlike Legendary had been hovering in front of his face, waiting for his response with curious, moon-sized eyes, and now that it had been emitted she blinked, taking in his words. She remained silent, and in the midst of this Arceus snorted in acceptance before turning around to head towards his bedroom, seeing her stillness as a sign that she agreed and would rightfully leave him be…

…or not.

"But it's only nine in the morning!" she suddenly retorted, her voice filled with its own hints of dissatisfaction. He stopped in place, cringing slightly since he knew she wouldn't've dropped the subject _that_ easily, though he kept a face of reckoning as he turned his head to look at her. She was glaring at him with narrowed eyes, as if unimpressed that a God Pokemon could even give into his or her tiredness, despite that her expression then contorted into a look of bewilderment. "Or…is it nine at night…?" she wondered, placing her paw to her chin as she blinked in curiosity, confusing herself.

Arceus rolled his eyes again. It had been nine in the morning when she arrived at the Hall of Legends to stay with him, and, to her, time was always irrelevant, which was why she was clueless on telling it. "It's the afternoon, Mew," he simply scolded, narrowed eyes glancing towards the clock that hung on the wall behind the pink Legendary – the clock in which she was apparently oblivious to.

Mew snorted as she crossed her arms over her chest, raising her head as if she was a snooty person who had just been offended – a look quite ironic when her spunky behavior was considered. "Fine," she replied, short and firm, "it's _nine in the afternoon_ then."

The God Pokemon frowned. "That doesn't make any sense."

He took a step back, eyes widening when Mew suddenly shot forward, stopping right before she slammed into his face. He blinked as her angered eyes bore into his. "Oh yeah?" she retorted in the same exact tone she had used when he had questioned her 'real world' theory. "Well, _I'm_ a Legendary. I can make things make sense!" She crossed her arms and pulled back slowly, like an investigator moving away from a criminal in the middle of an interrogation.

Arceus blinked again, surprised by her defensive state. However, his frown soon returned along with the rest of his annoyed expression. He already knew that Mew tended to abuse her power, which was why he showed no faltering among lacking a comeback. Besides, she couldn't control time – that was Dialga's job. "Mew," he grunted, choosing to drop the subject to save himself the ulcer, "I need to sleep, so if you don't mind…" He turned around, continuing with walking towards the exit out of the meeting room so he could head off towards his quarters where he slept – _rarely_ slept. Mew yet again remained silent, her semblance of 'looking for a fight' dissipating quickly as her face contorted into a visage of contemplation.

In the midst of this uneventful moment, Arceus' brows came together as he pondered for what would happen if he did leave Mew alone. Would she wreak havoc all over the place among the act of finding entertainment? Or - Arceus smiled as this positive possibility of his absence swept through his mind, igniting every inch of his relief - or would she, perhaps, leave the Hall in search of fun elsewhere? The God Pokemon couldn't help but twitch the ends of his lips into a small smile. It was obvious that Mew would do this, as she was envious for fun, mostly staying with Arceus because his company ensured some sort of satisfaction while Mewtwo and Deoxys finished whatever they had been doing in their cavern home. But…with him gone…she would have to go to a different place – maybe Celebi's – in order to be amused. This plan made so much sense that Arceus was ready to smack himself in the forehead for not thinking of it earlier -

"Wait, Arceus!"

- or around a time where Mew didn't have the ability to throw it all off and flush it down the toilet.

Arceus sighed, stopping in place as he had done before. He should've known that Mew wouldn't let him sleep, as then she would be bored – and no doubt did she think of the Hall of Legends as a refuge until it was safe to return home. Because of this, she was going to stay, forcing him to stay awake so she could have company in the midst of doing so. He was ready to yell, tell her that he wanted to sleep and nothing in her power could stop him. However, the past reason that consisted of his strange inability to refuse her will, evading the possible consequence of making her sad, was getting in the way; and was also the imaginary shackles around his hooves that made him reluctantly turn around, facing Mew as she began to float closer towards him.

She stopped when she was in front of his face, her expression displaying thoughtfulness, which clashed with his look of annoyance. "How about some music?"

Arceus' face fell into one of bewilderment. "What?"

"Music!" she answered, laughing as if liking her idea more and more every second. She twirled around his face, his eyes following her when she was in view, though he now displayed incomprehension as his aching head struggled to define her words – and what she was implying they should do in spite of them.

She didn't emit a following answer, as, after circling around his face a few more times to where he felt slightly dizzy, she floated off towards the room's TV, which had been moved to the corner after their viewing of _Cloverfield_. Ironically, behind the manmade device, there was another human contraption – a large stereo system that had been given to the Legendaries through Jirachi's wish-granting ability (and Arceus somehow knew that it had been Raikou who had convinced the star Legendary to fulfill such a need). The system sat on a large black table, each one of its shelves filled with stacked CDs that had been collected by the other Legendaries over time, including Darkrai's gothic rock bands, to Suicune's alternative. Arceus even had a few orchestra albums in the middle of the collection that had been brought to him as gifts, though he rarely listened to them due to his disagreement with loud sounds produced by any manmade group whatsoever.

"Music!" Mew repeated as she rolled the moveable table with the stereo system on it out into the open. Arceus whimpered slightly as he finally realized what she had meant, and the worst thing was was that he couldn't say 'no'. That simple word he had wanted to say to everything lately, but couldn't because it was his job to do it all, couldn't even be directed towards the catlike Legendary in front him that was now expecting him to listen to music – _human_ music.

Which was the worse kind of all.

And simply because the other Legendaries tended to turn the volume up high, therefore blasting it throughout the Hall to the extent where Arceus, who was usually trying to sleep at those times, wouldn't be surprised if the inhabitants on Earth were able to hear it. Needless to say, it was quite weird when, for thunderstorms, you got some heavy metal song for the thunder rather than the actual…thunder.

Arceus dropped his head. _Why? Just…why?_

"Come on!" Mew urged, poking her head up to eye him as she searched the table's racks for a CD that would fit her mood. Arceus only shook his head in disappointment, somewhat annoyed that Mew seemed oblivious to his obvious depression and unwillingness to listen to whatever 'music' the catlike Legendary had in mind. She eventually emitted a squeak of glee when her large eyes caught sight of something that matched her fancy, and quickly picked it out from the collection before opening it up, taking out the CD, and slipping it into the machine as, with a press of the 'on' button, the black contraption lit up with green-colored lights. Then, placing the CD case to the side, she floated backward, waiting for the machine to read the music and start playing it through its speakers, which were larger than her and thus made Arceus only twitch in hopelessness.

Though, when the music actually started, its electroniclike tune surging through the air of the Hall at a loud rate, Arceus just groaned altogether.

Meanwhile, Mew squealed in excitement, landing on top of the stereo system as she began to dance. She brought her eyes to Arceus, then calling out over the stentorian music, "Come on, Arceus! Let's dance! It's a great way to wake up!"

Arceus only rose his narrowed gaze to her, though she was too preoccupied with dancing to notice his obvious aggravation. "Mew!" he yelled out, his frustration getting the best of him as he longed for his headache to go away, in which the loud music wasn't helping with this task. "_Turn it down_!"

Mew didn't seem to hear him as she continued to move her body to the music.

Arceus snarled, infuriated. "MEW!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping that Mew would hear him – otherwise he might just lose it. "TURN THAT RACKET DOWN!"

To him, the music was everything _but_ music – nowhere near the melodic tune the sounds of nature could bring to one's ears. Of course, Mew paid no attention this, still dancing on top of the stereo system.

Arceus was ready to roar and blow everything in front of him away to oblivion. However, he didn't follow through on that, but instead began to walk forward, straining in doing so as if the music was loud enough to push him back. His head was ready to explode, his eyes narrowed into slits, while his fangs were clenched together so tightly that the sharp ends of them were making indents into each other. He snarled again, Mew unaware of his approach as she flailed her tiny arms around, continuing to dance to the barbaric lyrics of the song.

To his small relief, he eventually reached the music-playing machine, jabbing his hoof forward and hitting the 'stop' button, which caused the song to abruptly pause, the air to go dead silent, and Mew to stumble over herself, having been heedless to the God Pokemon's movements. She tripped over her footing, falling off of the machine and landing on the tiled floor with a small plop. She moaned in slight discomfort, rubbing her backside since she had broke her fall with it, and in the middle of it all rose her head to eye Arceus with curious eyes.

She met his furious gaze.

And gulped.

"W-what?" she asked, shivering in fright, Arceus' deadly glare so intimidating that she had lost all sense of firmness – and fun, for that matter. "Y-you don't l-l-like it?"

Arceus snorted, knowing that she was playing dumb simply because she was already aware that he hated human music – though she had forgotten this in the midst of her craving to dance to a catchy tune. He continued to growl as he stepped back, allowing her to get up and float upwards until she was right in front of his face. "I don't like that screeching humans dare call 'music'," he reminded her, tone strict and scolding. "Not that 'rock', not that 'metal', not that 'punk', not that 'emo', not that 'screamo', not that 'electronica', and most definitely _not that 'hip hop'_!"

Mew cringed, mentally noting that Arceus must've learned the various genres of music through conversations between the other Legendaries. This didn't ease any exhaustion however; it only seemed to make the God Pokemon angrier. She swallowed the stinging lump in her throat, trying to revert her eyes away from his.

At the sight of her saddened state, Arceus found himself faltering. His visible hatred gave into a look of guilt, as if he had just realized what he had done – how he had screamed at her with such harshness that it looked like he was the devil rather than God. Slowly, he stepped back, sighing heavily in the process, mentally cussing himself out for being so strict. Sure he was tired, and sure he hated human music, but none of his pet peeves were worth seeing Mew disheartened, as he had figured before when she had first arrived at the Hall of Legends, looking for a place to stay. He calmed himself down, his voice now soft, though still firm, as if belonging to an expecting father who felt sinful for scolding his innocent child. "It's okay…Mew…"

Mew rose her eyes, which were slightly glossy, obviously surprised by his sudden change of heart. He turned his golden eyes to the floor as she remained silent, feeling no comfort, which was why his voice then followed with: "You can listen to music…just something not so loud."

As if those were the direct words needed to make her feel happy again, the catlike Legendary squealed, regaining her look of pure glee. Arceus sighed again, despite that he forced himself to not give into his urge to smile at the happy expression upon Mew's face. Instead, he watched her as she slowly floated over to the stereo system, putting the CD inside back in its case, returning it to its slot among the collection before picking out another one. "Maybe you'll like Arbok Starship?" she suggested, showing the case to him, in which he eyed it with solemn eyes, wanting to beg to differ that he would like any music composed by humans.

But instead he forced himself to give a reluctant shrug.

Mew nodded slightly, as if relieved that he at least somewhat approved. She turned around and entered the CD into the machine, the contraption flashing with life as it read the disk's contents. Then the music began to play – a poplike song that talked about how a city was at some sort of war.

Arceus quirked his eyebrow, though he still appeared annoyed. However, this lightened slightly when Mew landed in front of him, directing her arms to the side as she then asked, "Wanna dance?"

The God Pokemon frowned. Surely no one would dare ask him to do such a childish thing as dancing, though this was Mew talking, who was thoughtful and believed she could convince a pack of murderous Rhydon to help promote a greener Earth if she wanted to. The most obvious of responses from his end would be 'no' – the one word he couldn't manage to say in any other situation; but now he would rightfully say it, even if just to save his dignity. Then again, when he looked into her moon-sized eyes, remembering how sad she had appeared in the previous times of him being furious at her, he felt guilt rise up within his chest – definitely with the recent event where she had motioned as if she was on the verge of crying. He hated seeing that look on her, and, needless to say, was ready to do anything if its reward was to take that emotion away from her for good.

Because of this, Arceus couldn't say 'no' – even if this was the only scene where he felt like he could. Instead, he sighed again, agreeing with himself that, still feeling guilty for the previous incident, he owed her. "Will it make you happy?" he muttered, deciding not to say 'yes' altogether just for the sole purpose of avoiding sounding tender.

Mew grinned. "Yes."

Arceus narrowed his eyes, though he then nodded, slow and reluctant.

As if on cue, Mew squealed, twirling around him while Arceus began to regret his choice. Of course, he didn't have time to think about it before Mew grabbed one of his front hooves and pulled him forward until he was right beside her. Then, she took her place next to him, placing her paws in front of her as the music continued to play behind them. "Follow what I do," she told him, and he grunted, still sounding reluctant, hoping that all of this wouldn't be as disastrous as his thoughts were predicting it would be. She smiled as she pointed her paw forward, starting the dance routine.

He followed her command, keeping a strict expression as he did the same with his hoof.

She nodded, chuckling slightly before bringing her paw back, and then sticking out the opposite one.

He mimicked, despite how much he didn't want to.

She pulled her paw back in, bringing them both to rest at her sides as she rocked her head to the left, taking one step that way to match.

He inspected her with narrowed eyes, though he soon followed, finding it a little hard since he was a quadruped.

Humming with acceptance, she twirled around in a circle.

He followed.

She grinned. "That's a start," she then said, aware that Arceus had never much danced before. Arceus met her eyes, arching an eyebrow, despite that his expression still displayed an annoyed look towards the dance the catlike Legendary had apparently conjured for the song's occasion. He blinked when she suddenly clapped her paws together. "Now, let's put it together," she explained, as if tutoring him, "but only move faster."

She started her command off, beginning with the placement of her paws forward, then rocking her head as she moved to the side - before twirling around and then repeating the process. Arceus grunted slightly, eyeing his hooves to make sure he was doing it right when he followed, the two Legendaries soon moving in synch with the music, as well as with each other. All of the God Pokemon's worries and stress disappeared – cloaked behind the veil of concentration he felt towards mimicking Mew.

However, as Arceus danced with Mew, or what he thought was dancing, he found his brows slowly rising, his frown dissipating into a curious line as a strange feeling filled his gut.

What he was doing…

…it was actually sort of…

…fun.

Before he could realize it, he had smiled, dancing with Mew, and displaying satisfaction in the midst of it all. Noticing this, Mew grinned in glee, turning to him so they could dance while facing each other, which was when she added a shaking of the shoulders to the equation of movement they had both invented. Arceus' smile grew slightly larger as he followed, moving in synch with her to the music – which, actually, when he thought about it, wasn't _that_ bad.

Soon after, both him and Mew were dancing like participators in a club's disco room. Mew twirled around, performing the 'robot' style of dance, while Arceus grinned and mirrored her. They pulled back, in the process laughing as if they didn't have a care in the world, still dancing in synch with both the music and each other, appearing as if they had been doing so for years. Soon enough, Arceus found himself able to sing along with the song entirely, memorizing its lyrics as it played continuously on the stereo system, and because of this he and Mew had begun to mouth the words as they emitted from the said machine, laughing in the process. Needless to say, the God Pokemon easily fit the description of an engorged fan at a rock concert.

He never remembered ever having so much fun!

Eventually, Mew and Arceus found themselves lying on their backs upon the tiled floor, breathing heavily from all the dancing they had done. The song continued to play in the background, but Arceus didn't mind – he liked it! Instead, he laid there, meeting Mew's gaze as she cocked her head to look at him, which was when they both burst out laughing, soon sitting up afterwards when their stomachs began to ache.

"You know," Mew began once she had somewhat escaped from her laughing spree, "in the music video to this song, the band members were killing people by throwing pies at them."

Arceus freed himself from his cachinnation, and despite the fact that the music had helped aid him in taking his mind off of his hectic life, he couldn't help but find such a theme somewhat...childish. "Pies?" he scoffed, rolling his eyes. "How barbaric can you ge-"

He was cut off when something cold and gooey slammed into his face, the white substance sliding down his cheek, sticking to his fur, and filling his nose with the smell of banana cream. He turned his eyes downward when he heard the leftovers plop on the tile below, and put on a face of bewilderment when he noticed the familiar aluminum bin that usually held…

…a pie?

Confused, he turned his head in Mew's direction, in which the thrown pie had come from. His eyes widened when he noticed that she was smirking at him – behind her a stack of at least thirty banana cream pies, which hadn't been there seconds ago and therefore he immediately asked, "Mew, where'd you get those-"

A pie to the face.

He growled slightly as he rubbed off the squishy material, now glaring at Mew, who was giggling at the sight of pie innards tangled with his facial fur. This aggravated him more, though he only hissed, "You didn't steal those from a bakery, did you-"

Another pie to the face.

"Damn it, Mew-"

Another pie.

"If you don't-"

Another pie.

"I swear I am going to-"

Another pie.

"If you stole those-"

Another pie - and a giggle.

It wasn't long before Mew started to throw them one-by-one at the God Pokemon, in which he was soon hidden away by a cloak of banana cream pies as he disappeared behind their gooey coating and aluminum bins. Mew broke out into laughter, holding her stomach as it began to ache again. She had teleported off while he was in the midst of degrading, and had come back in the split of a second after retrieving a large amount of pies. Then, inspired by the song that was still playing in the background, began to throw them at the qilinlike being.

Of course, she suddenly regretted this when Arceus burst out of the piles of pies he had been trapped underneath, glaring at Mew with pure hatred drenching his narrowed eyes. He breathed heavily in a hulky manner, towering over Mew like a monster who gazed down upon its victim before consuming them. Mew squeaked, backing away, nearly tipping over a stack of pies when her back pushed against it. No longer did his pie-covered countenance amuse her, as it now only reminded her of a nightmare she had had one night after eating every chocolaty Swiss role in the Hall's kitchen. She contemplated on getting on her knees, begging for forgiveness and telling him that she had just been caught in the spur of the moment, and had gotten the pies from the Hall's kitchen's fridge, which had been filled with them since Entei liked to bake in his free time.

But, of course, her voice was lodged in her throat, and she remained silent as Arceus took a step forward, his face darkened with hatred. When he suddenly lunged towards her, she snapped her eyes shut, refusing to look Death in the face for when it came.

Nothing happened.

However, she soon felt a gooey substance slam into the side of her face, and upon recognizing the substance's feel and smell, she opened her eyes and licked some banana cream from the edge of her lip. Confused, she turned to Arceus, who was looking at her, eyes still narrowed, though a smirk had replaced his frown.

And a pie balanced itself on the edge of his raised hoof.

She blinked in realization, though was soon met in the face with another pie, which threw her back with her fur stuck together from the creamy material. She rose her eyes, catching sight of Arceus reaching for another pie, and she immediately squeaked again, despite that she was now smiling upon seeing the God Pokemon fight fire with fire – or, in this case, pie with pie.

She dodged another thrown pie before reaching for her own, tossing it towards the God Pokemon, which it hit him straight in the face. However, he only laughed in amusement, shaking any of the gooey substance from his eyes before firing his own shot. Mew continued to teleport to the kitchen to retrieve more 'ammo', and Arceus used whatever pies he could get his hooves on from the batches she brought back.

-ooo-

Needless to say, it wasn't long before the meeting room was covered in banana cream – it slid down from the walls, dripped from the ceiling, and made the floor slippery and squishy. Arceus soon dug his way out of it all, looking around and inspecting the place, grimacing slightly upon noticing how pie matter covered everything. Meanwhile, Mew revealed herself beside him, both of them having buried themselves in the midst of their pie fight, unaware that it would eventually lead to the mess all around them.

Mew turned to him, every place on her body covered with banana cream. Arceus, also pie-covered, met her gaze, showing repugnance, though when they both inspected their bodies they burst out laughing, breaking the tension with their chuckles. Such a thing as laughing in this type of situation was oxymoronic for Arceus, as, usually, he would be yelling at everything and damning whoever had done it to the fiery pits of the Underworld. However, he could only continue to laugh, finding the moment hilarious, as Mew was doing. For some reason, when he had done such childish things with Mew, he didn't feel so foolish for it – he just felt entertained and worry-free, which he hadn't felt in a long time. It was almost a miracle, the exact same feeling he felt whenever Mew…hugged him…

He blushed slightly at this thought.

"So…we should probably clean this up, huh?"

Arceus blinked, escaping his thoughts and reddened face as he turned to eye Mew, who had broken away from her laughter and was now gazing at him with truthful eyes. He was surprised that she had stated the matter before he had, as most of the time she was the one to bail before having to perform whatever consequence came with her actions. He returned his eyes to the scene, quirking his eyebrow upon inspecting it, as well as thinking of an idea that would perhaps make the job a little less tedious.

"We do have to clean," he muttered in a deadpan tone, eyes closed as if lecturing. Mew sighed in discontent, oblivious to how Arceus opened one eye, a smile following as he then added, "But who says we can't be entertained while doing so?"

Mew blinked in bewilderment, turning her head to look at him as he made his way across the pie-covered flooring and over to the stereo machine, which had been turned off in the midst of their pie fight. He hit the 'play' button, and "The City is at War" began to emit from the speakers, bringing Mew to grin in glee, floating towards Arceus as he turned to face her with a smirk.

Then, moving their bodies slightly to the rhythm, they began to clean.

-ooo-

* * *

**To Be Continued**

* * *

...yes, in the music video for "The City is at War", they really were throwing pies at people. xD

Anyway, the next chapter, should have the cooking scene and other stuff. Until then, another update to I Woke Up in a Car is next, and then the next chapter to Skyway Avenue. Of course, knowing me, I'll probably get sidetracked with oneshots.

Then again, with school on Monday, it may be a while before I can write again...


	5. Nine at Night

Hey peoples!

Whoo! Long chapter! xD Hehe, what can I say? I wanted to finish up everything in here, since the next chapter is going to be the last one.

Anyway, thanks to poka, ShadowBlueShane, silver geminite, Mable, Attila12, Dragonluvr1993, Shiny Hunter, and Moriko Hikari for reviewing. :D

Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Pokemon, "Nine in the Afternoon" by Panic at the Disco, or "The City is at War" by Cobra Starship.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Nine at Night**

* * *

-ooo-

A hour and a half later, the meeting room of the Hall of Legends was spotless.

Arceus arched an eyebrow as he gazed upon the finished work, inspecting how the golden walls that consisted the conference dormitory shined in the overhead lights as they had done before he and Mew had engorged themselves into a duel involving banana cream pies. The matching floor tiles had been wiped to a squeaky-clean manner as well, allowing the God Pokemon to view his reflection in its mirroring surface, examining the bewildered look that now covered his countenance as recent thoughts circulated throughout his head like planets orbiting his brain.

He was relieved that the meeting room was clean – there was no doubt about that – but the reason why guilt had slowly begun to wash across his conscious like a suddenly-realized sin was because, in the midst of his tidying, listening to the words of the "The City is at War", he had noticed what he had done; how he had acted after Mew had somehow convinced him to let her boom her music across the fragile air. He had acted childish, tolerant, and easy-going; any of the traits that matched the personality of a being who didn't have a care in the world and always stuck important responsibilities at the bottom of their priority lists. He had broken the one main rule associated with theomorphic individuals, which involved elegant postures and stoic behaviors – things that made an arch entity an arch entity; life-builders who wrote Destiny and Fate and configured the universe from when it was still a monad atom waiting to surge its possibilities across the vast, empty, black space that it had been placed in.

But…no…

Instead, his recent acts had disgraced such an occupation, contradicting his earlier statements created back when he was so dedicated to living up to the praises given to him by mortal beings that his life seemed to be based entirely on a book of laws made especially for the Legendaries – like the Gods' remake of the Twelve Tables.

However, as he stared at his reflection, even cocking his head slightly to admire the way his gold eyes looked brighter now, as if having been liberated from something, the God Pokemon's face fell into a contemplating one. He had never felt this way before; he had never once hesitated to scold himself after following through on an immature act such as dancing to music and being a target in a pie fight. For some reason, he found himself incapable to do so – thinking over his recent behavior, muttering lecturing insults to himself, and then reminding his confused head on how it would never happen again, because acts as those just done by his very hooves were oxymoronic to be done by the leader of the Legendary council. His job required him to be serious; there was no room in his schedule for laughter or games – mistakes and regrets; stuff that could drive his consistency of a sovereign aegis to fall back behind track. His stress was only part of it and therefore a simple grain of salt jabbed into the wound of divinity he would have to cope with.

So why was he now having second thoughts? Why, for once, back during his out-of-character dance session with Mew and the childish acts that followed, he did not scold himself for giving into the catlike being's requests? Why wasn't he regretting doing such things? Why did the reminder that he was a god and gods were supposed to be dedicated to work and only work and all the stuff that came with it fail to flash through his mind? Why did he…not care? Why did he…not worry? Why did he…

…feel so free?

Arceus let out a deep sigh through his nostrils, pulling his head back so couldn't look at his eased reflection again. He closed his eyes, his usual frown of annoyance now returning as he cleared his mind, trying to sort out everything piece by piece in an attempt to solve the imaginary jigsaw puzzle that seemed to make up his life. Despite that only a few minutes ago he and Mew had finished cleaning the meeting room from pie matter, still emitting childish giggles as they then danced to the last few seconds of the playing song, the qilinlike being had brought back his tough exterior, realizing what had happened and what he had done. However, as said before, he wasn't as much scolding himself for being involved in such acts as he was wondering why it was having such a positive effect on him.

The God Pokemon let out another breath of air into the placid, cool atmosphere of the meeting room. He was confused, frustrated that he was confused, and then bewildered on why he was frustrated about how he was confused.

Okay, now his head hurt again.

His golden eyes, which had sunken themselves back into a darkened hue of serious pondering, making his gaze look more distant than anything else, closed once again, attempting to help him think. However, when he opened them, he emitted a surprised gasp and stumbled back slightly when he realized that Mew was floating right in front of his face, her moon-sized eyes bright with curiosity as she cocked his head towards his uneventful demeanor. It was silent after that, a big web of tension forming between her and Arceus in the first few seconds he stared at her with slight impatience, and she, oblivious to all of this, only hummed, gazing at him like an amateur scientist did to a lab rat on the first day of the job; studying with inquisitive eyes.

Of course, it was obvious Mew was just wondering what they were going to do next now that the cleaning-the-meeting-room task was over.

Arceus only narrowed his eyes, his thoughts still revolving around his previous contemplations, though he had to grunt at the fact that Mew was unaware of his conflicting emotions. Now, when he thought about it, she had been the one to put him through all of this – her; an entity seen as the ancestor of all Pokemon, having been created for just that: an assistant for when his mind was too busy with other things to consider the mortal beings that resided throughout the universe. Every day she pushed away the tough, intolerant façade everyone expected her to have for maintaining such a role (but yet any sort of staid countenance was immediately ruined by her small, 'cuddly' stature, though she did indeed have her frightening days at times).

So, spending the day with her…was she affecting him? Was her personality somehow influencing his without his awareness of it? Was she the one to make him feel so…free?

The God Pokemon had to shake the thought away from his head, pushing it aside when Mew suddenly spoke in her usual bubbly, yet straightforward tone. "Um…Arceus?" she cooed, reverting her eyes away from his as he brought his gaze to her. He grunted, keeping his brows furrowed and his frown strong as he motioned for the catlike Legendary to continue. And, she did just that, placing a somewhat nervous grin on her face as if attempting to enshroud the burden implied with her next statement: "I'm hungry."

Arceus blinked, and for once since he had dazed off minutes after their cleaning had been done, his voice returned in an edgy manner. "Hungry?" he repeated, now comprehending the word and therefore allowing his annoyed look to continue – because even with frustrating thoughts and humiliating past behaviors his stoic posture was too big of him to neglect. "You just vomited all over my hooves a while ago, Mew."

"Yeah…I know," she replied bashfully, rubbing the back of her head, a light tint of red crossing the skin beneath her pink facial fur. "But…it's just that…" She grinned again. "…all that pie we just cleaned up…it's made me hungry."

Arceus wanted to roll his eyes at how amazingly fast Mew recovered from a stomach upchuck, but held it in as he decided to emit the most obvious conclusion to Mew's predicament: "Then go find something to nourish your hunger with."

Mew placed her paw to her chin, adding a thoughtful look to her eyes, then stating, "That's just it…" She returned her gaze to him, her tone light with curiosity. "I don't know what to eat…"

Arceus arched an eyebrow, though kept an unimpressed look among his gaze as he closed his eyes to let out another deep sigh.

"Can you cook me something?"

His eyes shot open, his tone and expression reflecting confoundedness. "_What_?"

"Please, Arceus!" Mew pleaded, placing her paws together in a begging manner as she floated closer to his face, kneeling before his widened gaze. She allowed her eyes to grow bigger than they normally were with misfortune, and Arceus had to step back before she started to worship him like a hopeless case turning to religion for a solution. However, even then she continued to stare at him with a puppy-dog look – that look in which he failed horribly when it came to ignoring it. He found his breath getting hitched in his throat as he took another step back, Mew only proceeding to follow and grow closer, and though he wanted to smile at how adorable her countenance appeared right now, the mere horror behind the request she was hoping he, of all beings, would fulfill was overtaking his mind and driving him to gasp out any alternative in existence that would help him evade in contributing to…cooking.

Because he had the cooking skills of a twig.

"Why don't you just look for something in the kitchen?" he forced himself to suggest, keeping his tone strict and straightforward, though the cracked hue of it was evident through his nervous facial expression.

Meanwhile, Mew only continued to proceed towards him and he wouldn't be surprised if his backside was now on the verge of making contact with a wall behind him; he felt like he had trekked the whole meeting room floor in the midst of avoiding Mew's wishes. "I can't cook!" she moaned, her tail and paws drooping downward, as if disheartened. "And everything in the kitchen that had been cooked before – excluding the pies, 'cause we used all those in our brawl – has already been eaten by Rayquaza, that fatty." She crossed her arms and huffed, pouting in the process. "How he keeps his slim figure, I'll never know."

Arceus only blinked.

"Please, Arceus!" Mew suddenly gasped, lunging forward again to beg. "I mean, you're God, right? You can do anything! Please feed me; I'm starvin'!"

The qilinlike being's eyebrow began to twitch in disbelief. Did she honestly even comprehend what she was saying?

Then again, the more he thought about it, the less trouble the idea seemed. She had a point; he was the creator of the universe, and as the creator of the universe it made sense for him to be good in most of its daily functions, such as the production of food to fill its mortal inhabitants and whatever other entities housed stomachs to feed; it wouldn't hurt to try. Besides…as he looked into her eyes again, he found his face flushing and his urge to serve her every desire filling him up from the inside out. He couldn't say no despite how much he wanted to, and yet again his frustrated thoughts from before on how her mere ways had drove him to veer from his pathway of imperturbable holiness returned to haunt his mind like a lingering phantom.

And, therefore, before he realized it, he muttered in a sighlike heave, "Very well, Mew."

Mew grinned in glee, jumping forward to hug his face and make him blush before she pulled away to head towards the kitchen. Meanwhile, Arceus only kept on a face of slight anxiousness, hoping he wouldn't later regret this decision.

Not that he had had a choice, though…

-ooo-

The kitchen of the Hall of Legends was white all over – freakishly white, to say the least – and Arceus suddenly felt as if he was in an insane asylum as he walked onto its tiled flooring, maneuvering around the colorless cabinets and drawers that made up the granite-mounted countertops. The God Pokemon remembered that only Entei tended to reside in the culinary, seeing as how the said fire lion had adopted the art of cooking as a side-hobby for when he was bored out of his skull and the other Legendaries weren't in the mood to gather their own food. Of course, Entei didn't mind cooking for his fellow council members; everyone enjoyed his homemade delicacies, and therefore Arceus wondered if he should message the fire lion to come cook for Mew. He soon pushed the thought away, however, deciding that it would be tedious to do that.

It looks like he was on his own.

Mew giggled as she took a seat on a chair by the table that had been placed in the kitchen for a homey effect, seeing as how the Legendaries never actually used the furniture, and thus it was seen as only a decorative thing. Arceus allowed his eyes to wander over his surroundings, wondering how he was going to do this without making the world explode and killing thousands of puppies in the process. Then again, when he thought about it, maybe he could just fix her a bowl of cereal or something simple that didn't require flammable surfaces to prepare, and in result make this part of his life a whole lot easier-

"I want spaghetti."

…oy.

Arceus turned his head to Mew, who was now grinning, rocking in her seat as if jumpy and impatient to taste whatever the great ruler of the gods managed to conjure in the form of angel hair noodles, marinara sauce, and large meatballs that rivaled oversized jawbreakers. He couldn't even begin to imagine what horrors lie ahead, but he knew he couldn't say no to her request, and he also knew that there was no getting out of this without pulling through on his word of cooking material nourishment; so he was screwed no matter which pill he swallowed. Of course, just for the sake of it, he asked, "Mew, can't you suggest something that's within my power to conjure?"

"Speak Pokemon."

Arceus growled at her joke, but nonetheless heeded her words and spoke in a more understandable format. "Can't you eat something that's not so…tedious…to make?"

Mew cocked her head at his words. "Why? What's wrong with spaghetti?"

Arceus grunted at her slowness, but learned that there was no way he would be serving Mew cereal to help easer her hunger. Because of this, he took a deep breath and decided not to push his luck, otherwise Mew would probably go into a teasing frenzy about how his godly status didn't fit his lack of problem-solving skills. Besides…he had to follow her command; his insides twisted with guilt every time he pondered on saying no. So, mumbling to himself on how making spaghetti couldn't be _that _hard, the God Pokemon followed the first order instructed by his common sense – fetch two pots to cook the noodles and meat sauce in.

He looked around, wondering where the kitchenware was located, as each drawer had no note or sign corresponding what lay inside, and therefore Arceus was utterly clueless on which cabinets amongst the dozens that seemed to consist the culinary held the required cooking tools. Trying not to put on face of bewilderment (if Mew saw him confused who knew how many giggles would emit from her mouth and dim his pride with humiliation?), the qilinlike being placed his hooves between the two handles of cabinets that resided below the sink, opening them and immediately being greeted with the tangy scent of window cleaner. He sniffed, his eyes watering at the strong aroma, and he pulled back quickly, gazing at the cleaning utensils that now lay before him – various bacteria-killing liquids that looked more toxic than cleansing.

"Um…"

Arceus took another sniff, shaking his head slightly at how the scents stung his nose, but eventually turned his eyes to Mew, who was now gazing at him with curiosity. "If I remember right," the catlike Legendary wondered out loud, placing her paw to her chin, "then the pots and pans should be in the cupboard by the oven."

The God Pokemon frowned. "Why didn't you tell me that beforehand?"

Silence.

Then:

"I dunno."

Arceus rolled his eyes, but pushed away the topic and closed the doors to the cabinets that housed cleaning utensils and a weird group of greenish muck that clung to the walls in the back by the sink pipe – oh my…was it _moving_?! – before turning his disgusted expression towards the stove on the other side of the kitchen counter that halved the culinary. He made his way over, not bothering to cast a glance towards Mew since it was obvious she was mentally laughing at him right now, and he had to wonder if she could really do this herself and was just looking for some chuckles and kicks; however, he pushed the thought away and opened up the cupboards, taking out two large pots and placing them on the stove that resided on top of the slumbering oven. He then remained silent as he pondered on what to do next, never having fully watched Entei make an Italian dish, but yet catching glimpses of the process.

With a grunt of approval he grabbed one of the pots, placing it in the sink and filling it with water before carrying it back to the stove using his teeth (his jaw already began to ache; why did he have to have hooves?). He turned the knob, starting the simmering flame beneath the pot, before pulling back to wonder what to do next.

Duh – get the noodles and meat sauce!

He opened up one of the higher cabinet doors, searching the spices inside for a packet of angel hair noodles, humming when he spotted such a thing residing on the very top floor along with the required meat sauce. He frowned as he noticed that it was out of his reach, and as he cast a glance towards Mew, who was watching him with inquisitive eyes, as if studying him like a judge of some sort, the God Pokemon couldn't help but whimper in slight nervousness since he now felt like he was on a bad rendition of Iron Chef. Nonetheless, he took a deep breath and reached forward, standing on the tip of his back hooves as he placed his front ones upward to jab the noodles and meat sauce until they fell his way. He smiled when he did so, the two items falling into his hold, and he retaliated back to place them on the counter, not noticing that, in the process, one of his hooves smacked the floorboard beneath the top one, causing it come down while taking the ones below with it.

Arceus only had a second to squeak in surprise as a sea of ingredients and spices rained down on him, enshrouding him and causing him to flail backward to where he fell over, the cupboard's contents now hiding him away behind a pile of pepper, paprika, garlic powder, and all the other seasonings Entei had somehow crammed into one place. He coughed as he poked his head out of the pile, hacking out a handheld canister of chives that had lodged itself underneath his tongue.

It was silent after that, though Mew's laughter suddenly broke free from her mouth, and therefore Arceus could only glare at the catlike Legendary as she attempted to muffle her cachinnation with her paws.

"Do you need some help?" Mew managed to choke out between her giggles, floating over as she fixed the floors in the cupboard and began to place the spices back in their rightful places. Arceus grunted and then rose, seasonings falling from him like droplets of water as if he had just gotten out of a pool.

"This is why I don't cook," he muttered, his tone somewhat snarlish. "I don't have fingers." He raised his front hooves as if to display them. "I'm minus fingers."

Mew only grinned as she finished repairing the damage he had done, and then floated back to her seat, sitting down with her fleer still present. Arceus only rolled his eyes, ignoring his urge to thank her for helping him out as he walked back over to the pots to at least see if the water was boiling yet. It was, and therefore he reached for the packet of dried noodles, ripping it open with his teeth before pouring its contents into the lagoon of bubbling, hot water that lay thriving on the stove. Then, shooting another glance at Mew, who had gone back to watching him inquisitively, he attended to the meat sauce, pouring it into the other pot.

Minutes later, Arceus watched as the noodles inside one pot began to dampen into a slippery, flexible, and tangled form, while the meat sauce cooked in the other metallic tub. He took the pot of noodles over to the sink, then using the hole-covered banister that already resided within to pour the noodles into, the water that had soaked them escaping through the holes and washing down the drain, leaving glossy, warm angel hair behind in its wake. The God Pokemon sighed in slight relief – the noodle part was over, though that was the easy step of cooking spaghetti, and therefore his eased breath didn't last long.

He turned his attention to the marinara sauce, walking over to examine it preparing itself in the pot, using the flame underneath to send bubbles across its meaty, red surface. He remembered hearing Entei mention countless of times that any source of dinner was always at its best when the right spices were added in. However, as he shot a look towards the seasoning cupboard, he felt his stomach freeze over with nervousness – he was scared to open it due to the risk of getting attacked by the imaginary monster inside that seemed to hate his presence like an angered poltergeist; or, in other words, get trampled again by a sea of spices and other optional ingredients due to unstable floorboards.

Reluctantly, he opened up the cupboard, his eyes immediately snapping shut as he prepared his muscles to face a wall of seasoning terror. However, when nothing happened, he slowly allowed one eye to open, gazing at the innards of the cabinet, which were uneventfully sitting there like inanimate objects tended to do. He breathed a sigh of relief, shooting a look towards Mew when she emitted a giggle from her chair, and, further ignoring her, he scanned his eyes over the spices that were currently available. Lacking idea towards what was usually assigned to be an addition to meat sauce, he tried to follow his common sense and picture whatever depiction lay on the bottles of spices mixed in with the spaghetti. Grunting slightly, he reached upward, knocked down a canister of garlic powder, picked it up with his teeth, and then added a little into the cooking meat sauce. "Garlic could make anything taste great," Entei had told him despite his obvious lack of interest in the culinary arts.

Next he added basil, because it was leafy and green and spaghetti was always associated with stuff that was leafy and green…sort of. He frowned when he wondered what else he could add, gazing at his large variety of seasonings that could either make the spaghetti perfect or downright horrible. He hummed, grabbing the salt, then walking over and tapping some lightly into the sauce.

That is, until the lid to the canister fell off and into the pot.

Oh crap.

Arceus froze as the yellow top to the salt canister popped off and dived into the meat sauce, bringing with it cupfuls of salt due to the fact there was no longer a barricade to hold it all back. The God Pokemon squeaked, snapping his head backward to avoid adding more, but only wound up tripping over his own hooves and falling flat-face onto the tiled flooring.

Meanwhile, Mew broke out into laughter…again.

"In Alpha and Omega's name," the qilinlike being cursed. He raised his face from the ground, slowly returning to his feet, hoping that all of this would be worth it in the end. He glared at Mew, who only continued to laugh, though she soon stopped her cachinnation when she suddenly heard a popping sound, turning her attention to the pot cooking the meat sauce, in which the flame underneath had been turned all the way up by accident for when Arceus had flailed his hooves in the midst of tripping and spilling salt all over the place.

She allowed an expression of anxiousness to show across her face. "Um…Arceus?"

Arceus ignored her, figuring her words to be just another tease thrown his way. Because of this, he neglected her warning tone as he tended to the salt sprawled across the floor.

"Arceus?"

"Not now, Mew," he hissed, eyes narrowed.

"But…Arceus?"

"Not. Now."

"But…but-"

"_What_?" he snarled, now turning to face her with pure anger burning in his eyes. Mew didn't shudder from such a hateful gaze, but instead only squeaked in fear and shrunk into her seat as a low, grumbling sound began to emit from the pot cooking the meat sauce. Oblivious to this, Arceus only stepped forward towards her like a predator provoking fear to rise within its prey, though he stopped when he was able to meet her widened eyes.

Of course, that was when she suddenly dive-bombed out of her chair to hide behind the table, in the midst of it screaming out one infamous command that drove Arceus' annoyance away and replaced it with plain bewilderment.

"HIT THE DECK!"

And, Arceus, turning around to face the cooking pot since Mew had motioned at it, had no time to dodge himself.

The contents inside exploded, splattering red, gory meat sauce all over the kitchen, and all over Arceus.

-ooo-

"So…erm…red looks good on you?"

Arceus only glared at Mew as she floated before him, eyes examining his meat sauce-covered figure before shifting to examine the crimson room, meat bits sliding down the walls, red splotches of mashed tomatoes dripping from the ceiling. The cooking meat sauce had exploded from the strong amplification of heat, and possibly a chemical reaction caused by Arceus' added spices and a strong amount of salt, which sounded idiotic but strangely made sense to the mind of the alpha Pokemon, because he was God; he could do anything.

The qilinlike being let out a frustrated sigh as he wiped his face clean with a towel, mentally muttering to himself on how it was probably going to take weeks to wash away the faint redness his albino fur now portrayed. When one looked closely, a tint of pink could be seen meshed in with his usual color, and such a thing only made Arceus want to roar, kill, and send an asteroid hurtling towards a city for the sake of the satisfying destruction…

…okay, now he was really starting to lose it.

"Hey, least you got pink fur like me!" Mew laughed in exaggerated joy, moving closer to examine the God Pokemon's pinkish hue. Meanwhile, he only continued to glower at her, not saying a word since he knew that if he opened his mouth a Hyper Beam would come out like some freaky automatic attacking issue. So he kept his jaw shut, instead letting out a sigh to calm himself as he continued to wash stray pieces of meat from his facial fur, his frustrated eyes holding a somewhat saddened hue that even Mew could notice. Due to this, she put on a soft look, aware that he had tried his best to cook her food despite his apparent lack of skills towards doing so, and therefore she was grateful. It was obvious he was disheartened because he had tried to fulfill her wish (but failed horribly) and that alone was enough to make Mew few satisfied.

She put on a warm smile as she floated towards Arceus' depressed face, his eyes only rising to meets hers, and that's when she hugged him gently, snuggling her snout into his. He blushed, showing surprise, but soon smiled, feeling relieved as he closed his eyes in relaxation and returned the loving embrace, glad that he was able to make her happy regardless of the outcome of his attempt to cook spaghetti. "Thank you, Arceus…" she cooed before pulling away, meeting his warm gaze that vanquished any anger that had been haunting his countenance.

Blushing slightly, she reverted her eyes away from his, now transfixing them onto the ground, rubbing the back of her head in a bashful manner. However, her eyebrows soon rose when she examined the meat sauce that covered the floor – as well as everything else – and, blinking a few times before shrugging, she slowly reached her paw forward, scooped up some of the sauce, and licked it.

Her face lit up.

"This is the best meat sauce I've ever tasted!" she squealed, reaching down for more. Arceus' eyes widened in shock at her statements, while she only brought up another pawful of the sauce, smearing some on his lips so he would have to taste it himself. Grunting slightly in disbelief, he did just that, and soon found his own eyebrows rising in realization that she was right.

It _was_ good.

"You're a good cook!" she commented, and Arceus wondered if she was just saying that to cheer him up, despite the fact that it really was good and that her hug had eased him enough already. However, as she engorged herself, he had to admit that if Mew said it was good, then it was good, and therefore there was no bias in her review.

However, even then he couldn't help but frown. "Mew, you do know that we need to clean up this mess, right?"

Mew looked at him with wide eyes and a mouthful of meat sauce, slowly gulping it down as she lowered her eyes to the ground. "Yeah," she then replied, sounding as if she was loathing such an idea, and Arceus only hummed.

And then he smiled.

He reached for the banister in the sink that held the clean and therefore still-edible noodles inside (its sink entrapment had saved it from getting hit with anything), and walked over to grab two plates from the china cabinet across the kitchen, then placing them both on the counter to where Mew could gaze at them with bewilderment, soon smiling herself when his following words came out with a soft laugh:

"Then we can at least do so the right way."

-ooo-

Two hours later, the kitchen was spotless, most of the meat sauce that had covered the walls being used to feed both Arceus and Mew as they combined it with the noodles to make the spaghetti they had been striving to produce. It came out perfect, Mew had commented, rubbing her satisfied stomach and wiping away meat sauce from her facial fur when she was done eating, gazing at Arceus with gratefulness as he finished his own meal in a more civilized manner than she had done. However, he didn't scold her for her eating habits, but instead chuckled at them, like an amused parent or lover, and she broke out into laughter too, such cachinnation even lingering when they cleaned the culinary of any leftover spots of meat sauce that had escaped from being consumed.

Afterwards, Mew and Arceus walked out into the meeting room, stomachs full, smiles large, though the God Pokemon soon allowed his expression to give into curiosity when he eyed the clock hanging above his pedestal, which listed that it was nine at night. Arceus hummed slightly at the thought that the day had been long and full of tedious activities; but now it was nighttime, and around the curfew he set for himself so he could be up high and early tomorrow morning for the meeting at dawn. Looking at Mew, he stated this.

"Really?" Mew commented, stopping in midair to place her paw to her chin in a thoughtful manner, tail swishing with contemplation. "It's that late already?"

Arceus nodded, and, for some reason, felt a pang of sadness touch his heart as he continued. "It's been an interesting day, Mew, but you should probably…be heading back…"

Why was it aching him to say such a thing?

Meanwhile, Mew gazed at him with curiosity, and then, as mental images of her brother and Deoxys' 'it' actions flashed through her mind, she grimaced and shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself to preserve the warmth that had just flooded out of her body. She fixated her eyes on Arceus, who was looking at the clock with what appeared to be a disappointed expression, but she shrugged it off when a sudden thought came to her mind, and she floated forward, countenance slightly nervous. "Um, Arceus?"

The God Pokemon turned to her, his expression emotionless as thoughts brought him to display a distant look. "Yes, Mew?"

"Can I…um…?"

"What?"

"…stay with you for the night?"

Arceus' face fell…again.

"I don't know if Mewtwo and Deoxys are doing do it!" Mew hesitated, bringing her paws to her face to amplify the horror of it all.

Arceus grunted, unsurprised. "Mew, it's been all day. I'm sure that with whatever they were doing they would be done with it by now."

Mew only continued to shake, looking at him with wide, moon-sized eyes, appearing more and more hopeless by the second, which made Arceus swallow his words and hiss a quick scold to himself. Yet again he couldn't say no to that look; to that face; to that Legendary in general. If he shooed her out he'd feel guiltier than anything, and before he knew it his heart had responded for him, overpowering his logic. "Fine, Mew."

The pink Legendary squealed in excitement, rushing forward and hugging his face, bringing him to blush. His heart fluttered around in his chest, any regret from giving into her whim being pushed away by his need to nuzzle deeper into her embrace. Mew sighed in content before pulling away, her own face flushed, and Arceus relaxed himself.

At least bunking with him for the night would guarantee her attendance in tomorrow's meeting…

The qilinlike being nodded before moving ahead, making his way towards the back dormitories where he slept, though he soon stopped when he noticed that a familiar shadow was following right behind him. He turned around to face Mew as she nearly bumped into his backside, his eyebrow arched and frown plastered onto his face, despite that it was obvious he was curious due to the lightened glint radiating from his eyes. "What are you doing?" he asked, tone firm.

Mew shrugged, as if the answer to that was obvious. "I'm going to bed."

His eyebrow remained raised. "Why are you following me?"

"I'm sleeping with you, remember?"

Arceus grimaced, his expression displaying slight confoundedness. She wanted to sleep in the same room as him? If she was hyper the way she was when she was awake, he didn't want to know what her dreams tended to do to her sleeping figure. "Mew, I said you could sleep in the Hall of Legends; not with me exactly."

"But sleeping by myself is boring!" Mew moaned, her disappointed tone lingering, and Arceus shuddered at the sound as if it was his kryptonite. "Please, Arceus!" she then begged, placing her paws together, and the God Pokemon felt his muscles tense up in response as she began her infamous, irresistible puppy-dog plead.

_This is crossing the line!_ his conscious roared into his face. _Just. Say. No._

"Pretty please, Arceus!"

_It's not a hard word to say; it's only one syllable – so get your tongue moving and say it!_

"I'll promise I'll be quiet!"

_What is wrong with you? Why can't you say no? What is wrong with your mind that it can't comprehend the glorious wonders that tend to come with the valor to say no?_

"Please, Arceus! I don't wanna sleep alone!"

_You're disgracing the status of a god. Just say no!_

"Arceus…?"

_Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it. Say it. I'm your conscious – the little voice inside your head that tells you when something's not right. You're supposed to listen to me, so listen to me!_

"I really don't want to sleep alone…"

_Why are you giving into her cuteness? You're stronger than this!_

"Please…"

Arceus finally gave in. "Okay. _Okay_!" he snapped.

_…You pansy._

Mew squealed in delight. "Thank you Arceus! You're the coolest Pokemon in the world!"

Arceus only grunted, then turning around to lead the way to the back dormitories, hoping all in the while that Mew would keep her word about not being trouble.

-ooo-

"Tell me a story!"

Arceus looked up from his bed, turning his eyes to Mew as she gazed at him from hers, tail swishing in happiness, the atmosphere of the small, yet homey staying room where Arceus slept maintaining such a façade despite Mew's lingering jumpiness. He looked at her with surprised eyes, as if offended by her request, but said nothing as she floated closer.

"I can't go to sleep without a story," she explained, smile big. "Deoxys always tells me stories about her and her brother before I go to bed. Surely you have epic tales, right?"

Arceus only continued to stare, wondering when the torment was ever going to end. He was on the verge of getting the sleep he had been envying for all day, but yet again it had been postponed because Mew wanted a bedtime story that would circulate through her head and inspire her dreams to soar into worlds of surreal proportions. He turned his eyes downward to help think about the situation. He wasn't one for bedtime tales, but it looked like this was another predicament he wouldn't be able to get out of unless he pulled through on it. Besides…as with the dozens of other previous moments, he couldn't say no to her longing face.

"I…" he breathed, as if debating with himself to just tell her to go to sleep in a calm manner. But…no…he couldn't do that; he wanted her to slumber away with a smile on her face. Because of this, he took a deep breath, then reluctantly muttered, "Very well."

Mew giggled in delight before settling herself in front of him, big eyes awaiting a tale as if she was a child hearing her grandfather reminisce.

Arceus frowned, wondering where to begin, and how he would go on from there. Why couldn't he just say no to her? Why couldn't he listen to his conscious? "Uh…once upon a time…" he began, eyes scanning the room as if to help think of a story plot. "…there was a forest…of Pokemon…"

His catlike observer leaned forward, face full of exaggerated anticipation, and so he continued with a faint gulp.

"This forest was…uh…a happy forest…and the Pokemon who lived in it…were happy too…"

Wow, he sucked at this.

Clearing his throat, as if trying to sound professional, he continued. "This forest was peaceful and a great home for all the Pokemon – not only because of its heavenly habitats and contagious hospitality – but also because it was guarded by a…uh…a caring Pokemon.

"This caring Pokemon was nice, and he always listened to the other Pokemon that resided in the forest, serving as their help for when they were in need or were experiencing a tough time in which only guidance could help them escape." He paused, thinking over recent events, and hummed slightly, as if finally getting the hang of it. "However, despite that he was a great leader, his daily job as such a caring guardian made his life…hectic…and stressful. And though he cared enough for the inhabitants of the forest to deal with such matters, he sometimes wished there was something out there that could make him smile for once."

Mew listened inquisitively, eyes bright with curiosity.

"He honestly thought sometimes that even with being surrounded by happy Pokemon," Arceus continued, not noticing that his eyes had dimmed, his tone soft and slightly saddened as if what he was saying was personal, "he would never be happy; he would never be at ease." The God Pokemon's eyes brightened. "But, that's when _she _came."

Mew cocked her head. "Who? Who came?"

Arceus smiled. "A young Pokemon," he answered, calescence radiating from his eyes. "She was childish and outgoing, envious for fun and for others to be happy. When she saw the guardian Pokemon saddened with loneliness, she came over and spent time with him.

"After that, they spent more and more days together, playing, having fun, just being best friends, and you know what happened?" He looked down at Mew.

She slowly shook her head.

"He felt happy; he felt at ease; he felt…" Arceus' eyes glistened. "…free."

Mew grinned, happy for the two fictional characters. However, she soon yawned, feeling tired, and as she watched Arceus finish his tale, she smiled softly, coming closer as recent events reran themselves through her head as well.

"And, being allies for the rest of their years, the guardian and happy carefree Pokemon lived happily ever after."

Arceus hummed in approval, warm smile still present. Of course, when he heard a small snore and felt the warmth of another touch his side, he turned his head and looked downward to see Mew curled up beside him, her long tail wrapped around her folded form like felines tended to do when sleeping. Her expression was peaceful, showing satisfaction, and Arceus chuckled slightly in amusement.

Because the tale had been based on their connection – the friendship they had formed over her mere day of staying with him. He was expected to be tough and serious; to live with the stress and work that came with being a powerful entity that watched over a legion of other gods. He had believed this and followed it, not caring about how much pressure was pushed onto him in response. But…now…Mew had taught him something – that even archly beings had the right to be happy, and seriousness didn't have to have consistency. There was room in anyone's schedule for fun; for life; for relaxation, and he was grateful that Mew had managed to show him that through her carefree attitude. He felt like he had been let go from the imaginary shackles that had drove him to maintain a life of imperturbableness, allowing access to the beauteous world he had once thought he would never have time to fully enjoy.

She had freed him.

And if work was like this – watching over beings who cared for you and looked out for you – then he didn't mind work; work was home. Home was anywhere, as long as Mew was beside him.

He smiled as he lowered his head to rest it alongside hers, limbs folded so he could settle himself in. He breathed out a sigh of content, allowing his muscles to relax.

It felt good to feel this way.

And it wasn't long before a soft snoring emitting from him signified that he had fallen asleep.

-ooo-

A few hours into the night, Mew slowly shifted, opening one glowing eye to gaze at Arceus as he slept beside her, his face showing no conflict and instead pure satisfaction. She wanted to smile and hug him; wake him up and thank him for all the things he had done for her – but held it in as she instead rose slowly, making sure not to nudge him awake as she escaped from his affectionate hold and floated quietly towards the shadow-drenched door.

Then, gazing at him lovingly one last time, she put on a determined face, nodded to herself, agreeing with her plan, and headed out the door and away from the Hall of Legends into the sleeping night.

-ooo-

**

* * *

****To Be Continued****

* * *

**

Huh...I wonder where Mew's going.

Anyway, fun chapter, eh? Hehe, poor Arceus, but at least he's happy in the end, right?

The next chapter's the last one. T.T


	6. Nirvana

Hey peoples!

Well, here's the last chapter to Nine in the Afternoon. Thanks to everybody who reviewed and favorited it; I'm glad you liked it, and, as usual, had as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

For reviewing the last chapter, thank you silver geminite, Dragonluvr1993, Attila12, Moriko Hikari, poka, Shiny Hunter, and Mechagodzilla128. :D

Enjoy the final chap!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Pokemon, or "Nine in the Afternoon" by Panic at the Disco.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Nirvana**

* * *

-ooo-

Dawn soon fell upon the land, dubbing its contents in the golden hues of morning glory as its feral inhabitants shook themselves awake from their slumber and jumped out of their havens to prepare themselves for the day. Carnivorous Pokemon headed out for an early hunt, the herbivores of the population lingering by the grassy fields or berry bushes where they could obtain their required nourishment, some bringing food back to their offspring who were still too young to go out on their own.

Humans woke up as well, yawning before rising from their beds and starting the day away with the usual cup of coffee and the morning newspaper that had been placed on their doorstep an hour before. Others, busy workfolk whose jobs ran their lives, rushed out their doors and towards the business buildings that traced the borderlines of the downtown area of whatever city they happened to live in. Trainers pampered their Pokemon for a long day of battling; coordinators repeated beauteous words of encouragement to theirs; and Nurse Joys fed their Chansey and other non-human assistants as they opened up the Pokemon Centers for another day of helping and healing.

The world seemed to wake up as the sun came to life before its eyes; and, expected to follow the common routine, was none other than the God Pokemon himself.

…For once, he didn't.

Snores emitted from Arceus' hanging jaw as he lay sprawled out across his bed in a very ungodly position. His hooves were in the air as he rested on his back, drool dribbling down from his opened lips as he smacked them together every now and then in the midst of dreaming, rolling to his side – only to go back to his prior position a split second after. He pawed at the air, mumbling out incoherent gurgles that sounded like a repeat of the archly rules all Legendaries needed to follow, and with the sole fact that they were sprouting from his lips in a drunken manner as he slept like an exhausted partier, not even the thought itself could take him seriously. He usually never slept like this, as even in his dormancy he would have to keep one eye open and his thoughts in motion in order to hold, in reach, the problems he would be forced to sustain the following morning.

However, now he had no such things to worry about; thus, he gave into his tiredness altogether and let his fatigued body do what it wanted without having to maintain a consistent posture of serious elegance.

And whether or not this was a good thing, the amusing sight itself was a reward all on its own.

The God Pokemon continued to snore, drooling in the wake, mumbling out a reminder to no one in particular that childishness was intolerable and a crime punishable of exile. He slurred, rolling onto his side, the brightness of the room that reflected the morning outside causing his brows to furrow in annoyance. Of course, he paid no heed to it, instead sleeping as if he hadn't slept in several years, continuing to roll to the side as he changed positions every few seconds, snuggling his head underneath his hooves in an attempt to preserve the relaxing sight of uneventful darkness. He smacked his lips together, a smile forming on his face as an image of a familiar catlike Legendary materialized in his blurry dreams.

"Mew…" he cooed, sighing in relief at the sight of her moon-sized eyes and even larger grin. His hooves lowered from his head, folding in against his side as if he was embracing something, and the mere memory of Mew's plushlike pink fur inspired affection to deluge his chest and make his heart flutter around like a dopey teenager in love. His smile grew soft, his head burying itself into the pillow, his dream shape-shifting the cushion into Mew's cuddly body, which was why he gently caressed the headrest with his furry cheek. He let out another sigh of geniality, blushing slightly in the midst of it, rolling over one last time-

He fell off the bed.

His eyes shot open and he emitted a squeak as he landed on the hard ground with a plop, raising his now-aching head so he could rub his hoof against its sore surface. He groaned in pain, his eyes sealing shut, though they soon opened again, radiating with grogginess as he attempted to recognize the room that surrounded him. The blurriness that enshrouded his eyesight dissipated slowly like a tumor eating away at itself, and therefore he soon blinked as he gazed upon the sleeping dormitories of the Hall of Legends, its air bright and crisp alongside the early morning. For a few seconds he displayed bewilderment, his waking mind trying to remember what happened the previous day as he gazed at the edge of the bed where he had - accidentally - rolled off.

After spending a few seconds staring into space, bewilderment lingering among his expression, the qilinlike being soon blinked in realization when memories of the prior day's events erupted throughout his mind like the explosion of a nuclear bomb. He rose to his stiff hooves, then scanning his gold eyes over the surface of his bed, as well as the whole room in general – searching for the very pink-furred organism that had bunked with him yesterday and, when night came, fell asleep against his side, inspiring her figure to appear in his peaceful dreams. "Mew?" he called, but no response came, which convinced his confusion to amplify. He walked forward, stepping past the pillows that had fallen off the bed alongside him, thoughts of where the catlike Legendary could've disappeared to filling his mind – blocking out the mental worries that usually plagued him as soon as he got up every morning. He called for her again, the pride always associated with his voice being dimmed from the curiosity that currently drenched it.

As before, no response came, leaving the sleeping dormitories of the Hall of Legends eerily deserted.

With a frown now covering his lips, Arceus emerged into the meeting room, repeating Mew's name, his voice echoing throughout the hollow air of the cathedral-sized area. It appeared lonely as it dissipated outwards like dying pleads for help, though Arceus' expression only displayed confusion as he walked forward, sailing his eyes over the empty room, suddenly feeling inferior. He grunted in slight annoyance, emitting Mew's name one last time – now with a tone of suspiciousness, expecting this to be another prank in the catlike Legendary's arsenal of giggles and kicks. He shot a glance behind him, preparing himself to see the pink-furred being sneaking up on him from the back, her infamous grin of a schemer's deviousness covering half of her small face.

No one was there.

Arceus allowed his muscles to relax, though they didn't feel relieved once he realized that Mew was nowhere to be seen. She had vanished from the Hall altogether, and as he thought more and more about this, he began to wonder where she had gone and…why?

Unless…

The qilinlike being blinked at the idea.

Unless she left to go home before he woke up.

Arceus raised his eyes to examine his surroundings one more time; this possibility made more and more sense with each passing second. Mew had asked to stay with him yesterday, and so with the fact that it was now over it seemed plausible that she would follow her deal of leaving. However, there was also something in the said theory that drove Arceus to neglect it – usually Mew always said goodbye before leaving someone; it was an attribute of her kind nature, which was why Arceus found it out-of-character of her to have ignored such a personality trait. Even if she had left while he was sleeping, she would've woken him up…or left a note…or something. If she just departed with no encore…it just didn't seem like her. Arceus would know; the grumpy Legendaries of the council never ceased their endless ranting about it!

The God Pokemon returned his eyes to the ground. Or…maybe she really did just leave. Maybe, this time, she left with no encore or last words, being delinquent towards her usual ways. Maybe she left without a sound because she knew how needy of sleep he was. Despite that the latter 'Maybe…' was probable due to Mew's benevolence, and Arceus would be grateful towards such a thing if that was indeed the case, the qilinlike Legendary only frowned, staring at his figure as its lonesome self was reflected off the golden floor tiles. He looked disheartened, the bright color of his eyes dimming, drowning beneath the despondency that was slowly filling his chest – and all because of the basis that now lay before him.

Mew was gone.

He didn't know why he felt so sad at the conclusion that he and Mew's day together was over; he would be able to see Mew every day if he wanted to, as they were Legendaries who coexisted with all the others. However, the fact that their deal as official 'best buddies' had ended was enough to depress him anyway. When she first got there at the start of the previous day, pleading for a place to stay while Mewtwo and Deoxys were doing whatever they were accused of doing, the following hours had been pure chaos. To Arceus, he had never felt more stressed out in his life, and having to watch and occupy Mew helped such a manner in no way shape or form. To Mew, she had seen the situation as a gateway to fun, ruining any chances Arceus had of maintaining sanity with her ideas of amusement and types of sugary alimentary that later provoked disgorged materials to cover the disgusted God Pokemon's hooves.

While Mew spent the day being boisterous, Arceus spent it wishing he wasn't the creator of the universe.

However, towards the end of the day, Mew had somehow made him see that life wasn't just work and stress; it was also fun and enjoyable. He had been blinded to such a concept due to the peer pressure of living up to the godly being everybody always expected him to be, and Mew had showed him that even Legendaries didn't have to be serious twenty-four-and-seven. He had believed that there was never any time for personal relaxation and the Legendaries who said otherwise were immature beings who didn't take their work seriously. Now, though, his views on the world had changed in one day – and all because of Mew; the Pokemon whom he had once deemed childish when she was really only living life to the fullest, not allowing her responsibilities to run her days like a cancer-inflicted human condemned to bed.

Like he was.

Arceus sighed in a longing manner, eyes examining how the lines of age that used to cover his face had disappeared – the stress that created them in the first place having dissipated when Mew's obsession with fun got to him. It had done wonders to his character in general; straightening his posture; brightening his hooves and mid-body arch; and many other things that would destructively clash together against the figure he had maintained before Mew spent the day with him and brought him into liking something he always forced himself to be intolerant towards.

She had cured his cancer and gotten him out of bed. She had burned the book of strict rules he had devoted himself to live by. She had unlocked the emotional shackles of imperturbableness that had environed him into a life of austere divinity. He had once envied to have the happiness that the other Legendaries had, and Mew had shown him that it had been there all along, hiding underneath his sovereign glare that was now a gaze of relieved goldenrod. For all of this – for the fact that she had changed his perspective on the world and its charitable features – he was eternally grateful.

And also missing her.

The God Pokemon let out another sigh, turning to the clock that hung on the wall behind him. He wanted to see Mew again, and though he would be able to spot her during meetings and such, it was obvious she would then move back in with her brother and Deoxys; so where would that leave him - alone in the Hall of Legends just like before? Though Arceus once fancied such an idea, it now depressed him even more, and this thought orbited around his head as he focused his eyes on the clock. Eyeing the time, he pushed the matter away for now, seeing as how the morning meeting was going to commence in another half-hour, filling the conference room with awake and talkative Legendaries for when they arrived-

The doors into the room suddenly opened.

Immediately portraying confusion, Arceus pivoted around to glance at the doors into the conference area, which were ajar and revealed empty halls of gold behind them. Silence dominated everything, and as Arceus quirked his eyebrow at the fact that no one seemed to be around, the idea that the doors opened themselves brought the God Pokemon to scoff away the preposterousness of it and move forward to shut the doors just for the heck of it. _Must've just been the draft_, he mentally figured, though his nose soon scrunched up at the senseless theory that a small breeze could've pushed the two heavy, metallic doors open. Then again, he was in no mood to question physics, as being alone in the conference room, waiting for the meeting to start, was filling him with flashbacks of the past. Since Mew had spent a day with him and left, it now felt like he hadn't been in an isolated position prior to that in several years.

Grunting, Arceus shut the doors, still finding the moment random and surreal. Then, he stood there, watching loneliness thrive before him in the deserted conference room that felt more dead than anything else. At the sight of this, a foreign feeling rose within his chest – a feeling he had once been unable to identify because the things associated with it had been practices he would never follow. But now that Mew had brought him to do some of these very acts, the sensation suddenly made sense.

Boredom.

The God Pokemon was bored out of his skull. With no Mew, there was nothing to do. He didn't realize until now how uneventful his life had been before their day together, which was why he was needy for company – something also alien to him since he had once preferred solitariness.

He sighed.

However, Arceus blinked as he felt a presence suddenly appear behind him, having figured that someone had entered the room through the opened doors. He could hear the soft breathing of the being as they approached in a slow manner, and therefore the God Pokemon put on a defensive look, snapped around, and prepared to face whoever it was.

His tough expression fell at the sight of a certain catlike Legendary.

Needless to say, Arceus had to calm himself down before he put on a childish grin and lunged forward to hug the said pink-furred being as she floated before him. "Mew!" he breathed, brightness returning to his eyes and posture – though once he realized how hyper he sounded, he let out a coarse cough to cover it up and quickly regained his proud composure. Just because he was happy to see her didn't mean he had to act like an idiot. "Mew," he repeated, keeping his tone firm this time, "where did you go?" He couldn't help but frown. "When I woke up, you weren't here…"

Mew raised her eyes from the tiled ground, meeting his gold gaze. He pulled back slightly at the tiredness that drowned her orbs with red, scrawny lines. Even her floating seemed frail, her long tail hanging limply as she kept her paws behind her back.

Despite that he was thrilled that she had returned, Arceus displayed worry for her state, stepping forward slightly, trying to determine why she seemed so…

…tired.

"Mew?" he murmured. "Are you okay-?"

Right before he could finish his question, Mew pulled her hands out from behind her back, revealing a yellow package in which its paper wrappings were tied together with a scarlet ribbon. Arceus arched an eyebrow as the catlike Legendary, without a sound, lowered herself to the ground and placed the presentlike object in front of him – like a peace offering between two tribe chieftains. "Here," she stated as she returned to floating, rubbing lingering tiredness from her eyes. Her tone was still happy and carefree, though it sounded dimmed as well.

Arceus switched his eyes between the package and Mew, wondering what this was all about.

"I just wanted to thank you for everything you did for me," Mew explained, eyes brightening slightly in both affection and gratefulness. "You watched out for me for when I needed help, so I owe you." She yawned, appearing so fatigued Arceus' own eyelids grew heavy. "I spent all night searching for stray money on the streets of cities so I could buy this for you. I would've had Jirachi wish it for me, but I felt that with the whole candy incident…I needed to get this on my own." She let out a sigh, meeting his eyes. "And I put the money on the store's counter before I left with the gift, Scout's Honor," she announced, raising one paw and putting the other over her heart.

Just with the way her exhaustion hinted hard work, Arceus believed her. Also, he was proud of Mew's mature actions – pledging responsibility for her past mistakes and working hard to prove that she was worthy enough to make up for them. Not to mention the fact that she did it all to repay him with a gift, and though he wanted to laugh at her words and tell her how much he wanted to thank _her_ for everything she did for him, he held it in as curiosity for what she had gotten him dominated his thoughts.

She floated back slightly. "Go on," she egged, grinning. "Open it."

Arceus hummed in bewilderment, but nonetheless followed her command and gently unwrapped the ribbon that was tied around the box, the yellow paper encasing it falling away as well. Then, he lifted the lid, pushing aside the strings of purple tissue paper that rested inside, cocking his head slightly as he lifted the four-sided gift she had gotten him out of the box.

Holding it between his two hooves, he examined it with studying eyes as its cover illuminated itself in the overhead lights.

On the front was a group of humans, a woman who had uniquely-shaped brunette hair standing in front alongside a man, his raven-colored locks hidden away by a spiky albino hat. Posing seriously, their matching eyes were set to be transfixed on whoever was gazing at the cover, the other humans behind them doing the same, various Pokemon also consisting the group. They were all dressed in attire fit for doctors, the background portraying a dark, faded image of what looked like a hospital's emergency room; and as Arceus' eyes began to widen in realization, he noticed the white words on the bottom that confirmed his suspicions of what it was:

**-o- May's Anatomy -o-**

**Seasons 1 – 4**

His breathing stopped.

"I thought that with how I ruined your chances of seeing the new episode yesterday," Mew quickly explained, appearing nervous as Arceus stared at the DVD case in his hooves with stunned eyes, "I could get you all of the seasons that were currently out on DVD. That way, maybe you could watch it until the new season comes out…"

It was silent and uneventful after Mew spoke, and she gulped in nervousness, wondering why Arceus wasn't saying anything. The God Pokemon only continued to stare, soon lowering the DVD case to the ground so he could turn his eyes to Mew, their widened state indefinable.

When he suddenly lunged forward, Mew squeaked, throwing her arms up over her face.

However, she stopped shivering when she felt his warm hooves snatch her tiny figure and pull her forward until her face met the soft fur that covered his chest.

He was…hugging her?

Indeed, that's what he was doing, and he ducked his head until his mouth was right by her ear – so close she could sense the shaky joy that served as his tone. "Thank you, Mew," he whispered. "Thank you for everything."

Mew blinked, her mind still comprehending what had just happened. Of course, when it all sorted itself out before her, she smiled in relief, burying her head against his warm, plushlike fur. Usually she would've pulled away by now, shooting him a childish grin and emitting brags to go with it. This time, though, she did no such thing, instead enjoying the feeling of his silky fur cushioning her body as they tightened their embrace, her paws coming forward to hold him even closer – if that was possible anymore. They stayed like that for the next few minutes, making no sounds or movements as they relished in each other's warmth.

Suddenly, the doors into the conference room burst open yet again, and Mew and Arceus pulled away from each other almost instantly as the other Legendaries of the council poured into the area like liberated water from a broken dam. In the midst of seeing the vast amount of new presences, Arceus shot a look towards the clock, which showed that the usual scheduled time for the morning meetings was five minutes away. Meanwhile, as Mew eyed and waved to the Legendaries who were still entering the room in a somewhat-organized manner, she squealed in fear when two familiar genetic beings came into view, convincing her to duck behind Arceus' figure, shaking like the end of an Ekans' tail. Arceus arched an eyebrow at her weird behavior.

Though, once he saw Mewtwo and Deoxys walk by side-by-side, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred recently, he understood why.

Mewtwo sailed his amethyst eyes over the godly crowd that had gathered in the conference room, taking their usual seats among the jury stands. Arceus hummed in suspiciousness as he eyed the manmade Legendary, Mew continuing to shiver in disturbed shock against his side, which brought the God Pokemon to roll his eyes at the moronic situation altogether. Deciding to finally solve this once and for all, Arceus stepped forward, Mew trying to hide herself behind him as he approached Mewtwo and Deoxys.

"Mewtwo," the God Pokemon greeted in a firm manner, the said clone pivoting around to face him.

"Arceus," Mewtwo replied with a respectful nod, his telepathic voice deep and gothic, as usual. As Deoxys waved, Mewtwo's eyes shifted to the shivering form behind Arceus, his brows furrowing once he recognized who it was. "Mew!" the clone growled, causing Mew to squeak in surprise and tumble out into the opening. "Where have you been? Deoxys and I hadn't seen you at all yesterday."

Mew only yipped, cowering underneath her brother and Deoxys' glares as if they both were serial killers. She quickly scurried to hide behind Arceus again, and the God Pokemon rolled his eyes one last time, still finding Mew's usual tendency to exaggerate somewhat annoying. However, he pushed it aside as he attempted to solve the mystery which had brought Mew to bunk with him in the first place. "Mewtwo," Arceus repeated, keeping his tone straightforward and without emotion, "did you and Deoxys fornicate at any time during the day prior to this one?"

For a split second, Mewtwo's eyes nearly bulged out of his head, and Deoxys blushed heavily. "_W-what_?" the manmade Legendary stumbled, also blushing, his semblance of shocked nervousness clashing together with his usual imperturbable personality. Such an accusation had caught him off-guard, which was a rare sight to see. "T-that's preposterous!" he suddenly snarled, Arceus only grunting, having figured as much as Mewtwo added, "Mating is not allowed on the Legendary council!" Deoxys nodded in agreement as fast as she could, still blushing while her love interest finished with: "So Deoxys and I would never engage into copulative enterprises whatsoever!"

"But I saw you!" Mew suddenly spoke up, floating in-between Arceus and Mewtwo, her expression of fright replaced with one of defense. "You two were on top of each other and your arms and legs and stuff were all tangled up…and stuff." She snorted, crossing her paws over her chest.

Mewtwo blinked, trying to comprehend what she was talking about – and trying to think of the moment she was possibly misinterpreting. When it suddenly came to him, he groaned in annoyance, placing his hand to his head. Deoxys seemed to remember it as well, because she chuckled slightly at the thought, bringing Mew to display confusion and Arceus to frown. "Yesterday, when Deoxys and I returned to our cave after realizing that Team Rocket was still dormant," Mewtwo explained, his voice dragging with slight embarrassment, "I assisted we relax and spend the rest of the day off. However…" He glared at Deoxys. "Deoxys suggested that we do something…'fun'" – he made the quotation symbol with his fingers – "which she believed involved a game of-"

"Twister!" Deoxys suddenly cut in, laughing in the midst of it.

"Yes," Mewtwo sighed with impatience – and an eye roll. "_Twister_. Deoxys said she wouldn't let me read until I played a round with her." He grunted. "How she was able to get me involved in that inferior human source of entertainment was beyond me; I suppose I was simply maintaining more generosity than normal that day."

Mew poked her head up. "Twister?" she repeated, blinking at the thought, and her eyes brightened in realization. "Oh, so _that's_ what that white mat with colorful spots on it was…"

Silence, then:

"…Whoopsie."

Mew rubbed the back of her head in a bashful manner, blushing in the process at her 'little' misinterpretation. "My bad," she added, convincing Deoxys to arch an eyebrow, not amused, while Mewtwo slapped his forehead, expecting no less from his childish sister. Eventually, Mew turned to Arceus, chuckling slightly in the wake. "That was an awkward mistake, eh Arceus? Oh well, at least we got to spend a day together anyway-"

She stopped when she noticed that Arceus was twitching like a psychopath on the verge of breakdown.

"Um…Arceus?" she asked, coming closer, concern radiating from her features. "You okay?"

No response.

Then, like a murderous puppet brought to life in those horror movies from the 80s, the God Pokemon slowly pivoted his head towards Mew, eyeing her with widened, demented eyes that made the catlike Legendary gulp and begin to back away sluggishly. Even Mewtwo and Deoxys held their breaths in intimidation as Arceus advanced towards Mew in a suspenseful manner that would rival a disturbed serial killer's. "A-Arceus?" Mew squeaked, continuing to float back as Arceus approached. "Le-let's talk about this…okay?"

No response.

"Arceus?" she whimpered, her skin paling. "It was a simple m-misunderstanding! I-I can make up for it – I promise!"

No response.

Mew squealed, cowering into a ball and falling to the floor when Arceus suddenly lunged forward.

However, as before, she didn't feel the holy wrath of a Judgment attack strike her, and therefore she slowly opened her eyes to find out what was going on.

Arceus was towering over her, a look of pure furiousness drenching his countenance as his stiff hooves pinned her to the tiled floor on all sides, granting no escape. She shivered underneath his demonic glare, hearing his ragged breathing that could beat an angered Tauros'. She backed up against the ground, but could make no further movements as Arceus ducked his head and revealed gritted teeth, snarls rising from the back of his throat, giving him a semblance of cannibalism that contradicted his usual nature of collectiveness. "Mew…" he began, his tone a coarse hiss. She gulped again, fearing the worst as she sealed her eyes shut and Arceus continued:

"…Even Legendaries make mistakes."

Mew felt her expression of fear fall into one of bewilderment, having expected a death threat to emit from Arceus' lips. She opened her eyes to look at his face, blinking upon realizing that he was now smiling, his gold eyes deep with warmth and understanding – any sense of homicide he had had was completely gone without a trace.

It was silent and uneventful between them for the next few seconds, though once Mew finally comprehended what was going on, she grinned big and laughed with Arceus when the qilinlike Pokemon stepped off and allowed her to rise. Following this, she floated forward and hugged his face, another chuckle emitting from his lips as he nuzzled the embrace into a tighter one.

"Thank you, Arceus," she cooed against his fur, and he chuckled.

"Don't worry about it."

Man, was it relaxing to finally be able to say such a thing.

They held onto each other for a few more minutes, Mew curling up against his chest, ignoring how the other Legendaries had seen the scene and, finding it surreal when considering how strict the God Pokemon usually was, gathered beside a bewildered Mewtwo and Deoxys to display their own confusion.

Eventually, Arceus shifted slightly when he heard a soft snoring, his eyes fluttering open in puzzlement as he pulled away to glance at Mew.

She had fallen asleep against his chest, giving into her tiredness associated with working hard throughout the night, and as Arceus smiled in an affectionate manner, thinking of how easy-going she was and how trying such a lifestyle had made a big impact on his life, he nodded to himself, agreeing with his plan. Slowly turning his head to eye the other Legendaries, sailing his gaze over their confused faces, he allowed his smile to grow bigger. "You know what?" he began, closing his eyes in delight. "Take the day off – all of you. This morning meeting has been cancelled."

And, with that, he picked up Mew – gently, so he wouldn't wake her - before making his way to the back dormitories, yawning in the process, leaving the other Legendaries alone in the conference room.

They continued to stare in both shock and bewilderment at whatever entity of reasonable intentions had just replaced their strict leader, and they soon met each other's gazes, Darkrai and Raikou then coming forward to gaze at the dormitory entrance in which the God Pokemon had taken Mew and departed.

Instead of muttering out the most obvious question of who the qilinlike being was and what he had done with Arceus, the phantom that was known as Darkrai arched his eyebrow and chose then to state the other curiosity that was plaguing his mind: "Was it just me, or did Arceus' fur look a little…"

"…pinkish?" Raikou cut in, locking gazes with Darkrai, who nodded, sea-green eyes blinking with inquisitiveness.

Silence dominated the group.

Then, they all shook their heads.

"_Nah_."

Entei broke away from the crowd, walking into the kitchen since he had decided he would take his time off to do the thing he loved doing – cooking. Of course, once he opened up the fridge, noticing the absence of the certain treats he had spent all last week conjuring, he put on a face of viciousness and rushed back into the conference room. "Who ate all my pies?" the old fire lion snarled, the Legendaries jumping at his outburst.

However, all eyes then turned to Rayquaza.

The emerald dragon noticed everyone's stares a few seconds after and quickly put his claws up in defense, his arrogance yet again shattering away beneath the startled semblance hovering among his gaze. "Don't look at me!" he sneered, snorting in the process.

Entei growled, though he then suddenly smiled, his usual sense of calmness returning and convincing Rayquaza to let out a sigh of relief. "No worries," the fire lion stared. "It's the perfect reason to cook some more!"

And as he retreated back into the kitchen, Raikou met the bright gaze of Latias as she floated forward. "What do we do now?" she asked, not used to spending a morning doing something else other than hearing the earthly matters they had to tend to for the day. Raikou shrugged, though once he caught sight of the stereo system huddled in the corner of the room by the TV, he grinned in a childish manner when an idea suddenly came to mind. He rushed forward, pulling out the music device, the other Legendaries watching him as he did so.

"Let's dance!" he suggested, pulling out one of his favorite CDs, slipping it into the system, and pressing the 'play' button.

The music began to play a few seconds afterwards – a song about moon-sized eyes and 'nine in the afternoon' – and as the Legendaries recognized it, they grinned themselves and immediately followed what Raikou was doing – dancing. Deoxys grabbed Mewtwo's hands, forcing the poor clone Pokemon to twirl around with her, Darkrai suffering the same fate when Cresselia urged him into doing the tango, and Latias mimicked the movements of her fellow gods as they all moved their bodies to the beat. Entei even sang along with the words as he cooked in the kitchen, the entire council enjoying their time off as Raikou turned up the volume so that it blasted throughout the Halls.

-ooo-

In the sleeping dormitories of the Hall of Legends, Arceus snuggled up against Mew as they both lay on the bed, the catlike Legendary still asleep as the God Pokemon gazed at her with loving eyes. Thinking of all the things she had showed him – the things she didn't even know would later bring him into enlightenment – he gently leaned forward and licked her forehead, hearing her purr in response, cuddling closer to his body.

He could only wonder how much more exciting life was going to be now that he was ready to look at it from a different point of view. He chuckled at the thought, laying his head down beside Mew's, sighing in relaxation.

That is, until the music of "Nine in the Afternoon" exploded throughout the Halls at a stentorian rate.

The God Pokemon raised his head, frowning at the loud noise.

Though, just as fast as he appeared annoyed like he usually was with any melody that disturbed his sleep, he glanced at Mew…

…and smiled, laying his head back down, allowing the song to serve as his lullaby, its lyrics sailing through his head.

_Ah_, he mentally cooed, _music to my ears._

-ooo-

* * *

**The End**

* * *

Satisfied? :D

I hope you liked it. This is the second chaptered fic I have finished since Exile, so I'm sad to see that it's over. Ah well, with new endings come new beginnings.

As I said before, thank you all for reading this, reviewing it, favoriting it, alerting it, and all that jazz.

See you next story!


End file.
